Delayed Destiny
by Zerectica
Summary: An unexpected flash from a long dormant Intersect may be the most important of Chuck's life.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: I'm posting the first chapter of this story today in honor of the closing of Zac's wonderful Broadway play She Loves Me.**_

* * *

Walking into the little café an elderly gentleman was suddenly hit with an onslaught of images rapidly flickering across his mind. When the rapid succession of images finally ceased the elderly man collapsed to the floor, causing a flood of people to race toward him. It had been decades since his last flash and he wasn't used to the sensation or its effects anymore.

While the group of people who had surrounded him when he fell tried to help him and asked if he was okay, he looked through them to the woman sitting at the far end of the café by the window. She was the cause of his flash and the intense pain he felt.

Chuck adjusted his glasses as he continued to focus his attention on the woman by the window. She had long, white hair in a braid that fell halfway down her back. The sunlight streaming in through the window bathed her in its warmth and she was so beautiful. He hadn't seen her in over fifty years, but she was just as beautiful as she was the last time he saw her. Looking at her Chuck realized the feelings he held for had never gone away, only falling dormant until the sight of her reawakened them. Even after all this time she still made his heart flutter. In that moment he knew one undeniable truth, Sarah Walker was still the love of his life.

As Chuck continued to gaze at Sarah he remembered the last time he ever saw her. It was fifty-four years ago in Prague at the Nadrazi train station. She had wanted him to run away with her and leave the spy life behind. She wanted to be with him and have a 'real life'.

When Sarah first informed him of her plan he had been excited, but when the time came to put their plan into action, he backed out. Ever since then, whenever he reflected back on that day he always wished he had made a different decision. If he could go back and change that day he wouldn't give her his train ticket and just walk away without a word. Not running away with her that day had become his biggest regret in life.

Instead of going through with the plan he returned to the spy life, but, as he learned five months later, it was already too late for Sarah to turn back and she ran, just as she had planned, except she ran alone and with a broken heart. The pain and tears he saw in her eyes that day at the train station still haunted him.

Chuck was so focused on Sarah that he didn't realize that the people around him were trying to help him up. It took a sudden shock of sharp pain to snap his attention back to his predicament. He had collapsed under the now unfamiliar sensation of a flash and unexpectedly seeing the love of his life again after more than five decades, which resulted in a lot of both physical and emotional pain. The flash had given him an intense headache and falling was a lot harder on his body these days, so he hurt all over. But none of that pain compared to the pain he felt in his heart after laying eyes on the one and only Sarah Walker again.

A little later Chuck was back on his feet and one of the waiters who worked in the café was helping him to a nearby chair. Upon reaching the closest available chair the waiter continued to assist Chuck as he slowly helped him sit down.

It wasn't long after that when the sounds of sirens began to fill the air. Someone had called 911 to report on Chuck's fall and now they were almost at the café. Before he knew it EMTs had arrived and were looking him over and asking him all kinds of questions.

"Sir, what's your name?"

Replying to the first question with a wince caused by the shooting pain that suddenly surged through his body, he responded, "Chuck Bartowski."

"How old are you Chuck?"

"I'm 82," Chuck answered, only halfway paying attention, especially when he noticed Sarah glance in his direction.

"Eighty-two? Wow," one of the EMTs said, sounding impressed by his age for some reason that Chuck didn't understand. To him his age wasn't a big deal.

The questions from the EMTs continued as they asked him about what had happened and if he was okay. Chuck couldn't tell them about his flash, not that they would even understand if he did. They would probably think he was crazy. Chuck needed another explanation for what had occurred and instead said he had suddenly become dizzy, which didn't exactly explain everything he was feeling, but it was the best he could come up with.

The EMTs continued to look over Chuck for a few more minutes before they announced that they were going to get him to the hospital.

That caught Chuck's full attention and he began fiercely protesting that idea. "No, I need to talk to her! I can't lose her again! I can't lose her!"

"Who? Who do you need to talk to?"

"Chuck slowly raised his arm and with a slight shaking he pointed across the room to the woman by the window, who due to his flash he knew was a now elderly herself, Sarah Walker.

After briefly looking to see what he was pointing at, the EMTs turned back toward Chuck. "Sir, you really should go to the hospital. We need to make sure that you didn't break anything and that you don't have any internal injuries."

"No!" Chuck answered forcefully. "I'm not leaving without talking to her. I'm not going anywhere except to see her."

"Sir, you need to go to the hospital."

"I said I'm not going," Chuck repeated, refusing to back down. "I'm just an old man that fell. I don't need to go to the hospital."

Chuck knew that the EMTs couldn't force him to go to the hospital, only strongly suggest that he do so. Thus, a few minutes later they reluctantly walked back out to their emergency vehicle, leaving Chuck behind in the café.

Slowly and painfully Chuck rose and carefully made his way across the café, limping slightly. Upon reaching the table where Sarah was sitting, he silently pulled a chair out and sat down. He was just too dizzy and weak to be on his feet right now.

Following a moment of looking at her wordlessly, taking in the sight of her up close, Chuck spoke. "Hello Sarah."

The woman, not wanting any company or attention, especially from some man she didn't know, who was making her feel uneasy tried to get him to leave her alone. Using a clipped tone she said, "My name isn't Sarah." Then softening her words after recalling that she had just seen the man with the EMTs moments ago, which could have led to confusion on his part, she continued, "It's Savannah."

Refusing to let her reaction deter him Chuck said, "I know that you are Sarah Walker."

Hearing that name she suddenly tensed up and began subtly wrapping her hand around the fork sitting next to her plate.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" she asked in the most intimidating tone she could muster.

"Sarah, it's Chuck. Chuck Bartowski. Do you remember me?"

"Chuck?" she replied, finding the name difficult to say.

That name also resulted in a very different reaction than the name Sarah Walker had. The tension left her body and she relaxed a little. Then, reaching up toward his face she carefully removed his glasses, folded them up and set them on the table. She then leaned forward and placed her hands on his face, looking deep into his eyes. After a few moments, no longer hidden behind his glasses, she recognized the kind, brown eyes she was staring into. The elderly man sitting next to her was indeed Chuck Bartowski.

"It is you Chuck," she said with a small smile. She then spent several moments taking in the sight of a much older Chuck. In addition to the glasses he wore, which were currently resting on the table, he had thinning, gray hair, with just a touch of curl to it. He clearly kept his hair a little longer to disguise the fact that it was thinning out.

She was pleased to learn that Chuck was still alive. That he hadn't been killed on a mission after she left and that things like age and disease hadn't taken him yet. Over the last ten years she had witnessed many of the people she had come to know in her new life die for a variety of reasons as they approached their older years. Very few of the people she knew around her age were still living. Knowing that Chuck was among those people filled her with a sense of happiness.

"How did you recognize me? I would have never known who you were if you hadn't said anything."

Instead of answering Chuck fumbled just a bit as he tried to pick his glasses up off the table and slipped the plastic, black frames back onto his face. "That's better. I can see again. My vision has gotten pretty bad in my old age," Chuck explained. "Without my glasses I couldn't make out your face anymore. Now that I can see you I can answer your question."

Chuck lowered his voice and moved his mouth against Sarah's ear. Then hoping that she could hear him he said, "I still have the Intersect in my head. When I saw you I flashed. That's how I knew who you were."

Suddenly something occurred to Sarah and she threw her hands over her mouth. Chuck! That was you that fell! Are you okay?!"

"I'm okay. Just bruised and banged up."

"What happened?"

"I haven't flashed in thirty or forty years. I guess my body just isn't used to it anymore."

There was a slight pause in the conversation before Chuck changed the subject and resumed speaking. "Sarah, or is your name really Savannah now?"

"I've been living as Savannah Smoak for the past fifty-four years, ever since the day I ran."

"So should I call you Savannah? Or Sarah?"

"You can call me Sarah. I've always been Sarah to you."

"Okay, Sarah, I'm really sorry for what happened that day in Prague. I wish I had made a different decision that day or at least explained to you why I didn't run with you."

"Chuck you don't have to apologize. That happened more than fifty years ago. I let go of what happened a long time ago. I went on with my life."

"Sarah, I need to tell you this. It's something I've wanted to say for fifty-four years. I chose to be a spy because I wanted more out of life than just working at Buy More. I wanted to actually be able to do something to really help people. I wanted to worthy of you. You deserved more than a guy who worked at an electronics store. I loved you Sarah. I never wanted to lose you. I wanted us to be spies together."

After a slight pause Chuck concluded with, "I really hope that you can forgive me and that you don't hate me."

"I could never hate you Chuck, even if I tried. And I did try at first. You really hurt me when you left me at the train station. I wanted to hate you and forget about you, but I never did. I've thought about you a lot over the years, wondered how you were."

"I thought about you nearly every day Sarah. And I hoped that I would see you again one day so that I could explain my decision. I just wish it wasn't when we were in our eighties."

Chuck and Sarah's conversation was interrupted when a loud musical tone rang out. Sarah turned her attention to her purse and began searching for her phone. It only took her a few moments to find it and when she answered she left Chuck to listen to her end of the conversation.

"Hello sweetie. It's okay baby. Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm at the café. Okay sweetie. I love you. I'll see you soon. Bye-bye."

After Sarah hung up the phone and returned it to her purse Chuck asked, "Who was that?"

Smiling, Sarah answered, "That was my granddaughter, Sabrina."

"You have a granddaughter? You're married?" Chuck asked, both astonished and a little sad.

"No, I never got married."

"Then how do you have a granddaughter?"

"A few years after Prague I had decided what I wanted in my new life, a family, and I adopted a baby, a little girl I named Samantha. She's all grown up now and Sabrina is her daughter, my granddaughter."

"What about you Chuck? Did you ever get married or have a family?"

"No, I never found anyone like you. I never stopped loving you."

Chuck didn't realize what he said until he had already said it. He had just admitted to Sarah that he was still in love with her. It was too late to take those words back now. He just hoped that they wouldn't scare Sarah and ruin his chance to know her because he knew that he couldn't bear to have her walk out of his life.

When Sarah started digging through her purse a few seconds later Chuck became worried. "Are you leaving?"

"My granddaughter will be here soon. I don't drive anymore so she's coming to pick me up and I still need to pay my bill."

Sarah pulled a glasses case out of her purse and slipped a pair of white frames onto her face.

"I like your glasses," Chuck commented. "They look really good on you. I like that they match your hair too."

"Thank you. I only really need them for reading; otherwise my vision is still pretty good. My hearing on the other hand isn't so great anymore. I've actually lost most of my hearing. Without my hearing aids someone would nearly have to shout directly into my ear for me to hear what they were saying."

"Wait! You wear hearing aids? I didn't notice any hearing aids when I was whispering to you earlier. My hearing is still pretty decent and I can generally hear fairly well without hearing aids, but I still wear them to help me with the softer sounds. Yours are clearly a lot more invisible than mine though."

"I guess they are. No one can ever tell I'm wearing them. My daughter helped me pick them out. She's a doctor and helps me with all of that stuff and makes sure that I always have the best care."

Laughing, Chuck said, "I guess we'd be doing pretty well if we had your eyes and my ears."

"I guess so," Sarah said laughing herself. "The other way around would be a disaster though. We wouldn't be able to see or hear."

Chuck and Sarah were still in the midst of laughing about the declining quality of their various senses and other issues related to their advanced age when a very young woman with deep black hair and bright blue eyes approached their table. Sarah's face immediately lit up when she saw her and Chuck guessed that she had to be the granddaughter Sarah mentioned.

The young lady with the contrasting hair and eyes wrapped her arms around Sarah before asking, "Grandma, who is this?"

"This is an old friend of mine, Chuck. I haven't seen him in fifty-four years."

"Chuck, this is my granddaughter, Sabrina."

After the greetings Chuck learned that Sarah's granddaughter had just turned nineteen and would be starting college in just a couple of months. The way Sarah talked about her granddaughter it was clear that she really loved her and was very proud of her. Before this moment Chuck never could have imagined Sarah as a grandmother, but here she was gushing about her grandchild like any good grandma would.

"Are you ready to go home now Grandma?"

"Yeah baby, I'm ready," Sarah said as she closed up purse back up and slowly stood.

As Sarah and her granddaughter were heading toward the door Chuck stood and called out to them as he tried to catch up, still limping from his fall. "Sarah! Wait!" Then remembering Sarah's new named he called out, "Savannah! Please don't go yet."

Turning around Sarah, aka Savannah, waited to hear what Chuck had to say.

"I don't want to lose you again. Not after finally finding you. I want to be a part of your life. If that is something you would want."

"Of course Chuck. I'd like that. Are you staying nearby? Or live around here?"

Chuck told her about the hotel he was currently staying at and soon the plans had been made to meet at the café again tomorrow for lunch. Sarah even promised that she'd come with her daughter so that Chuck could meet her.


	2. Chapter 2

The following day, as promised Sarah returned to the café along with both her daughter and granddaughter. Sarah's daughter had dark hair and dark eyes and Chuck guessed her to be in her forties, which fit with her having a nineteen year old child.

Chuck knew yesterday that Sarah was a mother, as well as a grandmother, but now seeing the woman Sarah had raised since infancy really brought to light just how much she had changed since he last saw her and how different their lives had been. Even if she never married, Sarah had a family. The only family he had in his life had been his sister and her family. He never actually had one of his own.

Chuck was still musing the very different paths their lives had taken when his thoughts were interrupted by Sarah's voice. "Chuck, I'd like you to meet my daughter, Samantha."

"Samantha, this is my very old, dear friend Chuck."

"It's very nice to meet you Chuck," Samantha said, shaking his hand.

"You too Samantha."

"My husband would have liked to come but he had a surgery scheduled for this morning."

For a moment Chuck was confused, wondering what Sarah's daughter would be doing here if her husband was having surgery before he realized that she meant that he was performing one, not receiving one. Sarah's daughter had clearly married another doctor, much like his sister had. That commonality was what brought up the topic of Ellie and Devon.

When he was asked how his sister and her husband were Chuck took a moment before answering solemnly. "Ellie died several years ago when she was 78. Devon died the following year."

Hearing that Ellie and Devon had both died physically made Sarah's heart hurt. She knew how much Chuck loved his sister and how close they were. "Oh Chuck, I'm so sorry," Sarah said laying her hand over his.

"What about Morgan?"

The expression on Chuck's face didn't change when he said, "Morgan died seven months ago."

Tears had begun to form in Sarah's eyes and she wrapped her fingers around Chuck's hand, squeezing it gently. It was heartbreaking to hear that Chuck had lost his sister, his brother-in-law and his best friend. He didn't really have any other family that she knew of and he told her yesterday that he had never gotten married, so Sarah wondered if he still had anyone left in his life or if he was alone.

"A few months after Morgan died I left Burbank. I couldn't stay there any longer. Not after they all died. So I left and eventually I ended up here on the opposite coast where I saw you."

"What made you come all the way out here?" Sarah asked.

"After Morgan's death I just had to get out of Burbank, out of California. For a while I didn't know where to go, but eventually I decided that I wanted to see the Atlantic Ocean before I died. I found a map, closed my eyes and chose a location on the east coast. When I opened my eyes I saw that my finger was on South Carolina, so that's where I decided to go. How I ended up coming to this particular town I don't know. Maybe it was fate."

"Have you seen the ocean yet?"

"No, I haven't."

Sarah's daughter jumped into the conversation at that point and stated that they lived close to the beach and suggested that her mother could take Chuck to see the ocean. Samantha added that she would be the perfect tour guide because her mother went down to the beach almost every day, weather permitting.

Chuck definitely liked the idea getting to walk along the beach with Sarah, especially if it would be just the two of them. He liked both her daughter and granddaughter, but what he really wanted was some time alone with Sarah.

"I'd like that," Chuck said, trying not to sound like the overly excited child he felt like inside.

Before she could say anything Samantha agreed for her mother and Sarah had been roped into taking Chuck to see the ocean whether she wanted to or not.

Chuck turned his attention to Samantha to ask her something he knew that Sarah would never talk about, at least not the Sarah he knew. But he didn't know anything about Savannah Smoak, so maybe she was different.

"What was Sarah like as a mother?"

"Sarah?" Samantha asked with a look of confusion spread across her face.

"When Chuck knew me I went by another name," Sarah explained.

Chuck knew Sarah had changed her name, she told him that just yesterday, but he found it difficult to remember to refer to her as Savannah with others, especially since when it was just the two of them he called her Sarah. That was a lot for his nearly eighty-three year old brain to keep straight.

"I knew it!" Samantha suddenly exclaimed. Turning to her mother she said, "He's the guy you told me about, isn't he? The one from when you were a spy."

"You told her about us? About being a spy? How much does she know?"

"Not much," Sarah answered. "I never told her any details about any mission. I never even told her the names of anyone I worked with, including yours. All I ever told her was that I used to work for the government in the CIA."

"Most of the stuff she told me about you wasn't spy related," Samantha said while silently communicating a message to her mother, leaving Chuck to wonder what she meant.

For a while Chuck forgot about his question as he pondered Samantha's words, but the question wasn't forgotten permanently and he asked again, this time remembering to use the name Savannah.

"Savannah is the best mother I ever could have asked for. I've always felt so lucky that she chose me."

"How long have you known that you were adopted?" Chuck asked before Samantha could continue with what she was saying.

"I knew my whole life. My mom never kept it secret that she had adopted me. She always told me about how much she wanted me and how happy I made her. I always knew how much she loved me and she was always there for me. In addition to the love and support she gave me she taught me a lot. I learned a lot of self-defense and martial arts. She also taught me a couple foreign languages. She always made sure that I understood all of my homework and got the best grades in school. Because of everything she did for me I got a scholarship to medical school, allowing me to be the doctor I had always dreamed of being. I don't know who my birth parents were, but I'm grateful for whatever led me to being adopted by my mom."

Chuck was stunned into silence and couldn't take his eyes off of Sarah. He had always believed that Sarah could do anything and now it seemed that being an amazing mother and grandmother were now on her list of accomplishments. Both Samantha and Sabrina seemed to think she was the most incredible woman and Chuck couldn't really disagree with them. He had always felt the same way about her.

Following a leisurely lunch at the café Samantha invited Chuck to join them on their trip home, where her mother could take him to see the ocean he had traveled so far to see. Accepting the invitation Chuck followed Sarah's family out to their car where Sabrina helped him get settled into the backseat, while Sarah took the front passenger seat.

Sarah didn't say much during the car ride and because he couldn't see her face and therefore couldn't judge her reaction or how she felt about this Chuck didn't say much either. Sarah had said that she wanted him to be part of her life, but maybe going to her home was getting too personal for her. Especially this soon.

After about fifteen minutes of riding in near complete silence the car turned into a driveway and came to a stop in front of a two-story house with a spacious yard.

"Is this where you live?" Chuck asked, addressing Sarah.

"This is my daughter's house. I have my own place."

"Where do you live then and how are you going to get there?"

"Mom has a house behind ours," Samantha explained. "We moved her out here a few years ago because I didn't want her to be on her own at her age. You probably know how independent she is. She wouldn't move in with us, so we compromised and let her have her own home on the back end of our property. So mom still has her own house, but if something happens or if she needs us for any reason we are right here."

Samantha invited Chuck inside and when a window at the back of the house came into view he could see a smaller single story home. The little house faced in the opposite direction and while it was much smaller than the house Samantha lived in with her husband and daughter, it was the perfect fit for Sarah.

"So that is your house?" Chuck asked pointing out the back window.

"Yes," Sarah said, answering his question with a single word.

"Why don't you take Chuck down to the beach now?" Samantha asked. "He did come all the way from California just to see it."

Samantha wasn't going to let the subject go. Sarah realized that she was determined to get her alone with Chuck. She knew why too. When her daughter was younger she had asked her about love. It was then that she first told her daughter about Chuck, without using his name of course.

She told her about how she had fallen in love with a sweet, nerdy man many years ago and that unfortunately life took them in different directions. Over the years her daughter heard many stories of the man she had loved when she was a young woman. Samantha always asked to hear more about the mystery man in her life and now that he had a name and a face, those stories had just become more real to her.

Inwardly sighing Sarah turned to Chuck and asked him if he was able to stand for prolonged periods and walk moderate distances. When he said that he was, though not entirely convincingly, Sarah led him out the back door of her daughter's home.

Slowly Sarah began walking toward the beach she regularly visited, this time while Chuck tagged along. After five minutes during which very little was said by either Sarah or Chuck, the sands of the beach came into view and soon the breeze of the ocean could be felt on their skin.

As they stepped onto the warm sand Chuck stopped to take everything thing in. The Atlantic Ocean was right in front of his old eyes and he could now say that he had seen the ocean on both sides of the country.

"Sarah, is there some place where we could sit down for a while? My legs are starting to hurt and I need to rest."

"The only place to really sit is on the sand. Can you get down that far?" Sarah asked cautiously.

"I can try," Chuck replied. "I might need some help though. What about you? Can you get down there?"

"Yeah, I can do it. I've kept up with most of my fitness routine from when I was a spy. There some things that I have trouble with now, but I do whatever I can to keep myself in the best physical shape possible. I don't want to be like so many of the elderly people I see that can barely even walk. My daughter already has enough patients to worry about. She doesn't need to add me to that list."

Taking their time Chuck and Sarah lowered themselves down onto the soft sand. Letting out a breath, Chuck exclaimed, "Whew! I did it. I haven't sat on a beach like this in years."

While the waves crashed into the shore Chuck removed his glasses, wiped the lenses on his shirt to clear the cloud of fog and returned them to his face. Chuck then turned to Sarah and asked, "Do you remember the last time we sat on a beach like this?"

"Yes, I do," Sarah said smiling fondly as she remembered that beautiful morning from so long ago. "It was when we first met, after your first unofficial mission where you defused a bomb with a computer virus. I asked you to trust me."

"Sarah?" Chuck asked a short time later. "Why did you leave the CIA? I thought you liked being a spy?"

"I did, but as long as I worked for the CIA my life wasn't my own. Up until that point I had spent my life being whoever someone else wanted me to be. Doing what they wanted me to do. I wasn't free to live my life the way I wanted to. When I met you I realized that I wanted more. I wanted a real life and I wanted you to be part of that. But you wanted to be a spy. I had already made my choice though and I couldn't go back, so I left and for the first time I got to choose who I wanted to be. It took me a while, but I eventually found the life I wanted and I've been happy here. I've had a good life."

"What about you Chuck? What was your life like after Prague?"

"I spent months training to be a spy, never knowing that you were gone. I counted the days until my training was over and I would see you again. It wasn't until I got back that I learned that you had left and that I would probably never see you again. After that everything changed."

"For an entire year I looked for you on every mission, just hoping to spot your face. I gave up all hope of finding you after a few years. I didn't know how to find you or if you even wanted to be found. Without you I was a terrible spy and none of the replacement agents assigned to the team ever worked out. Just like none of the dates Ellie tried to set me up on. None of them ever went past the second date. Most of them barely even made it through the first one. My life never went anywhere and I was still working at Buy More until the day I retired."

After a pause Chuck concluded with, "Your life turned out so much better than mine Sarah and it's all my fault."

"I'm sure that's not true Chuck," Sarah said gently resting her hand on his knee. "You had your sister and your best friend. You had people that cared about you. And if you were at Buy More that long, then they had to like you there. You had to be good at your job. I'm sure you made plenty of friends too. You were always good at that. Everyone liked you Chuck. Even Casey and he rarely liked anyone. I'm also sure that you were still a good spy after I left. Even in the beginning you were able to do some pretty incredible things."

"Well, I did end up managing every Buy More location in Southern California. And I guess the spy thing worked out okay. It just wasn't the same without you."

"See I told you," Sarah said, lightly squeezing his hand. "And I'm sure that you made good money doing that. Of course you were a successful spy. You were always good at that job too."

"I did make pretty good money working at Buy More all those years and I could afford a pretty decent house, but Ellie and Devon had their own lives. They had a family. Even Morgan got married eventually. I never had a family of my own."

"Of course you did Chuck. Just because you never got married that doesn't mean you didn't have a family. Ellie and Devon were your family. And so was Morgan. I still remember you telling me about how Morgan was family. Did they have any kids?"

"Morgan didn't, but Ellie and Devon had a daughter they named Clara."

"So you had a niece. You were an uncle. Where is she now?"

"She's living in New York with her husband and their two boys."

"See you did have a family and you still do."

"You're right, Sarah. I did have a family and it is true that I had a lot of really great friends," Chuck said with a small smile. "Thanks. I'm feeling better now."

"Did you know that Ellie and Devon actually got Casey to be a part of their wedding?"

"Really?!" Sarah exclaimed, completely astonished by the idea of Casey participating in a wedding.

"Yeah, Devon asked him to be one of his groomsmen and he actually agreed. And when their daughter Clara was born Ellie and Devon made him her godfather."

"Wow," Sarah replied, becoming more and more surprised by what Chuck was telling her. "I can't imagine Casey as any kind of father figure."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about Alex. Casey wasn't just a godfather; he was actually a father too."

"What?! Sarah exclaimed so loudly that she drew attention from others on the beach.

"Yeah, about year after you left we were on a mission and Casey discovered that he had a daughter he never knew about. It took him a while to get the hang of it, but eventually he did have a relationship with her. And oh yeah, I mentioned that Morgan did end up getting married. Guess who he married?"

"No! Really?! Morgan actually married Casey's daughter?!"

"Yeah, he did. They were really great together. Very happy."

"Wow, I can't believe how much things changed after I left."

Following a momentary silence, Chuck spoke again. "Sarah, can I ask you a question?"

The tone in Chuck's voice caught Sarah's attention and told her that he was unsure of what he was about to say. To try to put him at ease, Sarah laid her hand over his and looked into his eyes when she said, "Of course. What is it?"

"Why didn't you ever get married?"

"You actually had a lot to do with that," Sarah quietly admitted. "After what happened at the train station I was hurt, my heart was broken and I didn't want to ever want to be hurt like that again. So I closed off that part of my heart and gave up on relationships. When I got my daughter I decided that had all the love I needed in my life. I didn't feel like I needed anyone else."

In answering Chuck's question she was admitting things that Sarah Walker never would, but Savannah Smoak was a different person. Savannah was more open with her emotions, especially as she grew older. Now that she had reached her senior years and had witnessed the deaths of many of her peers, Savannah aka Sarah, no longer buried her emotions or left things unsaid. Chuck however did bring out some of the Sarah Walker that still lived inside of her and she left a few things out, things too personal to tell him, at least right now.

Silence fell over the elderly pair as the long dormant Sarah Walker sprang to life and slammed closed the emotional doorway Chuck had opened. As the conversation died down, ocean waves rushed in to fill the empty space.

Watching the surf crash into the shore, the water creeping up toward their toes, neither Chuck nor Sarah knew what to say. For several minutes the only communication came from the ocean. Finally Sarah spoke, speaking words with none of the emotional content the earlier topic had held.

"So what do you think of the Atlantic Ocean?"

"It's perfect," Chuck answered, looking at Sarah with a smile.

It was clear in the way Chuck spoke to and looked at Sarah that he was talking about more than the ocean. The intensity of the emotion she saw expressed in Chuck's eyes, even while hidden behind his glasses overwhelmed and scared Sarah to the point that she had to turn away, choosing to look at the vast ocean in front of her rather than man beside her.

While staring out at the ocean to avoid eye contact with Chuck, Sarah spotted something even more frightening than the intense look the man she had known long ago was giving her. Suddenly before her eyes a massive wave had grown out of the ocean and was rapidly heading for shore.

After quickly getting Chuck's attention and alerting him to the impending wall of water Sarah began working on getting up from the sand. In her younger days getting out of the pathway of an approaching wave would be no problem at all, but now that she was older she moved a lot slower than she used to and had barely started to get up on her feet when the wave crashed against the shore.

When the wave collided with the shore both Sarah and Chuck were in the splash zone and were soaked. Sarah, who had made some progress in getting up, was knocked back down, just narrowly avoiding falling on top of Chuck.

Moments later, a young lifeguard raced over to the pair and turned his attention to the one of them he had just witnessed falling. "Miss Savannah, are you alright?"

"Yes Brett, I'm fine, just a little wet," Sarah answered as she tried for a second time to get up on her feet. "I think my friend could use a little help getting up though."

Now turning his attention to Chuck who was still sitting in the sand, Brett slowly helped him to his feet.

Like the rest of him, Chuck's glasses were covered with water. The giant water droplets were obstructing his already poor vision so before he did anything else Chuck needed to dry them off. When he removed his glasses Sarah caught a glimpse of Chuck's eyes without the obstruction of his eyewear and suddenly he transformed into the old Chuck she had known decades ago. Sarah's reaction to Chuck's eyes now that they were no longer hidden beneath his glasses was so intense and sparked such powerful emotion inside that she found herself unable to look away.

Once Sarah was able to pull her gaze away from Chuck she thanked Brett for his assistance, and then asked if he had any towels or anything like that so that they could dry off a little.

Saying that he did, Brett led the way. As they were walking, Chuck who had noticed Sarah refer to the lifeguard by name asked if she knew him. The lifeguard heard Chuck's question, turned around and replied, "Oh, everyone here knows Miss Savannah. She's been coming here almost every day for years."

Brett continued to talk about Sarah, Miss Savannah as she was known to all of the lifeguards, and how much everyone liked her. He told Chuck about how everyone looked out for her during her time at the beach. By the time Chuck and Sarah had received blankets for drying off and fighting the chill Brett had painted a pretty good picture of how well-known Sarah was among the lifeguards who worked there.

After drying off somewhat Chuck and Sarah said goodbye to Brett and decided to walk along the beach for a while longer before heading back to her daughter's house. As they walked they told stories about their families.

The amusing little anecdotes they exchanged had the pair laughing. With each new story Sarah began feeling more and more comfortable in Chuck's presence. It almost felt like old times, as though they had always been a part of each other's lives and hadn't spent the last five decades living on opposite sides of the country.

Sarah and Chuck became so immersed in the stories they were telling each other that they completely lost track of time and ended up staying down at the beach for far longer than intended.

Becoming aware of their delayed return Sarah changed the subject, "We've been gone for a long time. Samantha and Sabrina are going to be worried about me. We need to get back to the house. I don't want them to panic."

Immediately Sarah turned around and began the walk back to her daughter's home as Chuck followed along. Walking back to the house took longer than the walk down to the beach and Sarah wasn't sure if that was because they were tired or if they just didn't want it to end. Maybe it was a combination of both. Her daughter's cushy couch did enter her thoughts on more than one occasion on the way back though.

The moment the elderly pair neared Samantha's house she came running out the door. Her voice was filled with both panic and relief when she spoke saying, "Mom! Thank goodness you're back! Are you okay?"

Before she could say anything Samantha started speaking again, noticing her mother's wet hair and clothing. "What happened Mom? Why are you guys wet?" She then repeated her earlier inquiry when she asked, "Are you sure that you're okay?"

"Samantha sweetheart it's okay. I'm okay. We both are. We just lost track of time. And as to how we ended up wet, well Chuck and I just aren't as quick as we used to be and we got splashed."

Sarah pulled her daughter into a hug and whispered words of comfort and reassurance into her ear, holding her until she felt her child relax. Then releasing the embrace Sarah took her daughter's arm and walked with her the rest of the way to the house. It wasn't until they had walked several feet that Sarah seemed to remember her visiting guest and spun around to tell Chuck to follow them inside.

The moment Sarah and Chuck made it into the house they were ready to sit down, but their clothes were still damp and they didn't want to ruin any of Samantha's furniture. However, because neither of them lived there they didn't have anything to change into, so Samantha offered her mother some of her clothes to wear and some of her husband's for Chuck. Immediately after getting into the dry clothes Sarah and Chuck sank into the soft, inviting couch in the living room, much to the relief of their aging bodies. Samantha meanwhile tossed the wet clothing into the dryer.

Chuck and Sarah were down at the beach for so long that when they returned it was nearly time for dinner, so after getting their wet things in the dryer Samantha invited Chuck to eat with them. Smiling, Chuck said that he would love to join them for dinner. Samantha returned Chuck's smile then excused herself, saying that she was going to see if Sabrina needed any help in the kitchen.

Once they were alone again Sarah turned to Chuck and said, "You're going to love Sabrina's food. She's a fantastic cook."

Sitting together on the couch Chuck and Sarah continued to talk about nothing in particular while Sabrina and Samantha were busy preparing dinner in the kitchen. After talking for about a quarter of an hour they were suddenly interrupted when the front door opened and a middle-aged man entered the house.

Sarah was the first one the man spotted and his response was a warm smile. Walking over to her he offered her a friendly greeting saying, "Hello Savannah. How was your day?"

Sarah responded to the man and asked him about his day, as he wrapped his arms around her in a hug. It was then that the man finally noticed Chuck seated on the couch.

Addressing Sarah he asked, "Savannah, who is this?"

Flashing a quick smile in Chuck's direction Sarah turned to the man and said this is a very old friend of mine." Then directing her attention to Chuck, Sarah said, "Chuck, this is my son-in-law Scott."

"Oh," Scott said, "You must be the friend that my wife and daughter went to meet today. It's nice to meet you Chuck," Scott said extending his hand to the older gentleman. "I was surprised to hear about you. Savannah has never introduced us to any friends before. You must be someone pretty special."

Inwardly Sarah could feel a blush rising to her cheek, so she looked away to regain control of the unexpected reaction. She was relieved when moments later Sabrina stepped into the living room and announced that dinner was ready. Without consciously realizing it Sarah linked her arm with Chuck's and began leading him toward the kitchen.

Upon reaching the table Sarah became very aware of what an intimate and friendly position she was in with Chuck. Becoming uncomfortable with the closeness, Sarah immediately released his arm and walked away, finding a seat at the table and sitting down, all without even glancing in Chuck's direction.

Following Sarah's lead everyone else proceeded to take their seats. Chuck wound up in the chair directly across from table from her, which may have been planned by the other members of her family. Whether or not that was the case however, it did allow for easy conversation between the pair.

When Sarah realized that Chuck was seated across from her she did everything she could to look anywhere except at him because the thought of doing so made her extremely nervous. Ever since the beach she was finding it difficult to look at him without becoming totally overwhelmed with emotions that made her uncomfortable.

After just a few short minutes however Chuck had the entire table laughing. Even Sarah had been drawn in by his charm and her nerves were completely erased and she began to relax. Just like at the beach Chuck regaled the group with entertaining stories from his life that had everyone wanting more.

Long after dinner had been eaten everyone was still sitting around the kitchen table engaging in lively conversation. It wasn't until the sun had been replaced by the moon that they realized how late it was. Chuck needed to get back to his hotel.

Not wanting to put an elderly man in a cab at this late hour, Scott told Chuck that he would drive him to his hotel. As soon as he changed back into his own clothes Chuck bid everyone goodbye, thanking them for all of their hospitality and headed out the door with Scott.

It wasn't long after Chuck left with her son-in-law that Sarah left as well, making the short walk to her own home. Due to the late hour, as soon as she walked into her house Sarah began settling in for the night.

Stepping up to the mirror once she was dressed in her sleepwear, Sarah started slowly undoing the signature braid she now wore in her hair every day. After getting the braid out of her hair Sarah picked her brush up from the dresser and began running it through the loose white strands making it silky smooth.

As she brushed her colorless hair, Sarah's mind replayed through the events of the day. Much of what passed through her thoughts had to do with Chuck and how he had made her feel. It was during those musings that she caught an interest in her reflection, which in turn caused her set the brush back down on the dresser.

While looking at her reflection through the mirror Sarah spoke aloud, "What are you doing Sarah?! You are an 81 year old woman! You are far too old to be doing anything crazy like falling in love, or back in love, or whatever it is that you're doing. Sarah Walker doesn't even exist anymore. She ceased to exist fifty-four years ago in Prague. Your name is Savannah Smoak and she doesn't know anyone named Chuck Bartowski."


	3. Chapter 3

**_A/N: With the release of the She Loves Me Cast Recording comes Chapter 3._**

* * *

The following day, hoping to see Sarah again Chuck returned to the little café for the third day in a row. Arriving shortly before noon Chuck stayed for nearly two hours and much to his disappointment she never showed up. So, unable to sit around any longer Chuck got up and left feeling disheartened.

Chuck really did want to see Sarah again today and briefly considered going over to her house. But there were a couple of issues with that idea. For one, though he had been there yesterday he didn't really know where she lived. He was unfamiliar with the town, having only been there for a couple days. He didn't know her address or even what street she lived on. In fact, he didn't know the names of any of the streets, so even if he had a map it would be of no use to him.

Speaking of what he didn't know; as much as he hated to admit it he didn't really know Sarah either. So even if he did know where she lived he wouldn't feel comfortable just showing up at her house without invitation. They may have had a relationship when they were younger, but they had spent the last fifty-plus years apart. They were essentially strangers now.

Walking along the sidewalk outside the little café where he had astonishingly run into Sarah two days prior he knew that there was a good chance he would never see her again. If that were to be the case he knew that his thoughts of her would only be stronger and more frequent than they had been before. Now that he knew that she was alive and where she lived, sort of, as well as what she looked like nowadays, he knew he would never be able to get her off his mind.

Despite having nothing to do and being unfamiliar with the area Chuck didn't want to return to his hotel. There he would just end up spending the entire day in bed, so he needed to find a more productive way to spend his day. Chuck ended up wandering around the area near the café with no particular goal or destination in mind.

As he walked down the sidewalk, passing various shops and restaurants Chuck noticed a lot of patriotic decorations. After passing more than five little shops decorated in red, white and blue, Chuck realized that it was the Fourth of July.

Holidays had been difficult for Chuck for a while now. Other than his niece Clara and her children, whom he rarely ever saw due to them living so far away, he didn't have any family living anymore. He didn't have anyone to share special days with anymore, so he always felt very alone whenever a holiday came along. Seeing Sarah again had allowed him to forget about the holiday and the isolation that encompassed them, but now that she was gone again Chuck believed that this day, and every holiday to come would feel even worse.

With the knowledge of today's date burning through his mind, Chuck became even more dejected than he was before. Part of him wanted to return to his hotel and lock himself away, but he knew that doing so would only increase his depression. But out here, surrounded by reminders of the holiday wouldn't really help matters either. Basically there was no escape for him. He was doomed to a day of loneliness and misery, feelings which would no doubt follow him beyond today.

Because there was no real escape for him, Chuck decided that he would stay out among the people of the little town the woman he once knew as Sarah Walker called home. So, Chuck continued walking down the sidewalk, looking for anything that would catch his interest. However he was distracted from this pursuit by foolishly hoping that he would run into Sarah.

By the time he reached the end of Main Street Chuck's old bones were growing tired and his body was telling him that he needed to find somewhere to rest for a while. Finding a nearby bench Chuck pulled out his phone to pass the time and an idea suddenly hit him. Calling for a car service to pick him up Chuck decided he would go to the beach after remembering that the lifeguard from yesterday said that 'Miss Savannah' was at the beach almost every day.

Chuck didn't know how long it took for the car he called to arrive, but once it did, he slowly climbed in and gave the driver his destination. In reply however he received an unexpected response.

"It's a bit early to go to the beach isn't it?" Following several confusing seconds on Chuck's part, the driver continued. "The fireworks show won't start for hours. Are you sure you want to go there this early?"

"There's a fireworks show at the beach?"

"Of course, sir. There's one every year. Isn't that why you wanted to go to the beach?"

Chuck explained that he didn't live here and had only arrived a few days ago, so he didn't really know anything about the town. Hearing this, the driver told Chuck about the annual fireworks display and offered some suggestions for what he could do in the meantime, that is if he was interested in seeing the fireworks show tonight.

Chuck took the man up on his offer and spent his afternoon checking out some of the sites the driver had recommended he visit. Then, as the sun began to fall below the horizon Chuck headed for the beach, just as he had planned to do earlier in the day. He hoped that Sarah would be down at the beach to watch the fireworks show and that he hadn't missed his opportunity to see her when he chose to spend his afternoon in town instead.

Upon being dropped off at the beach Chuck searched for familiarity. This was not the same part of the beach he was on yesterday, but he was sure that this had to be the right beach, Sarah's beach. He just needed to find something he recognized, or even better, Sarah herself.

Walking across the beach, searching every face in the gathering crowd, Chuck knew that anyone who observed his behavior thought him to be a lost and confused old man, which technically he was. Though their reasons for thinking that were probably far different than the reality of the situation. He knew where he was and what he was looking for; he just hadn't been able to find it yet.

In the fading light Chuck's poor eyesight made it difficult for him to see faces or any distinguishable features or landmarks that might clue him in as to where he was. With each step Chuck grew more and more concerned that he had made a mistake in coming to the beach when he had. Maybe if he had come earlier, before people had started to arrive to watch fireworks and when there was more daylight he could find his way around better.

With more and more people gathering at the beach by the minute Chuck knew that there was no chance of getting a way out until after the fireworks. So even if he couldn't find Sarah he was going to have to stay down at the beach for the show. And if he was going to be here no matter what, he may as well enjoy the fireworks display.

Just as Chuck was about to give up and look for anywhere to sit that didn't require him to get down too low, he spotted her. Sarah. Savannah. Whatever her true name was. She was there in front of him, sitting with her family.

Chuck stood frozen, filled with uncertainty concerning what he should do. He had come here looking for Sarah and now he had found her. But seeing her with her family he began to question himself. Did he have the right to intrude? She had built a life for herself, one without him in it. Was it right for him to include himself in her life, especially after he rejected and walked away from the life she had offered to him so long ago?

As he watched Sarah interact with her family from a safe distance, without the influence of outsiders in the mix, he saw a woman completely happy with the life she had led. Would his presence negatively affect the happiness she had achieved in the wonderful life she had created from scratch after totally erasing her old life? He was part of that old life she had left behind, a reminder of the woman she had to destroy in order to escape and finally be free. Would she want to mix the old with the new now that she had found her freedom?

While he was debating whether or not he should approach Sarah, Samantha's eyes met his. She then turned her attention to Sarah and spoke something to her while pointing in his direction. Chuck couldn't make out what she said, but whatever it was it made Sarah look up. When she did, Chuck knew that Sarah saw him, but he couldn't tell how she felt about it. The expression on her face was unreadable, a carefully constructed mask that hid any emotions she was feeling.

Sarah now knew that he was here on the beach, but he was no closer to making a decision regarding approaching her. If anything he was more confused. Sarah wasn't giving him any clues as to how she felt about his presence. He almost wished that her face had shown annoyance or even disgust at seeing him. At least then he would know how she felt about including him in her life. Then, as difficult and as painful as it would be he would know to walk away and leave Sarah, no, Savannah, to live her life, without him.

Chuck's internal conflict was interrupted when he heard someone call out his name. He didn't know who it was; all he knew was that it wasn't Sarah. He had been looking right at her and she hadn't said anything. When his name was called out a second time he realized that it was Samantha who was trying to get his attention.

When he looked in her direction she said, "Chuck! Over here!"

He still didn't have any idea how Sarah felt about seeing him, but her daughter wanted him to come over, so it would be rude to ignore her. She had made the decision for him and he walked over.

Upon reaching Sarah's family Samantha invited him to sit with them to watch the fireworks and Sabrina stood and offered him her seat. Chuck tried to politely decline Sabrina's offer, but she responded by saying that wasn't how she was raised and that she would be in serious trouble with both her mother and grandmother if she didn't give up her seat for him.

Thanking Sabrina, Chuck slowly lowered himself into the vacated chair next to Sarah. Once he was settled Chuck chanced a look over in Sarah's direction, but she wasn't looking at him. In fact, she seemed to be avoiding making eye contact.

Feeling more than ever like he was encroaching on a private family moment, Chuck was compelled to apologize. "Sarah, I know that holidays are for families and that I'm not family. I'm sorry for intruding."

"Chuck," Sarah said, letting go of the mask she had been hiding behind. "You aren't intruding. You were invited to join us. When I didn't have a family you let me be a part of yours. Tonight you are a part of this family."

Sarah's words touched Chuck and caused his eyes to tear. Lifting his glasses without removing them from his face, he took a moment to dry his eyes then settled the black frames back into place. "Thank you Sarah," Chuck finally responded when he was able to push his voice out passed the emotion that filled him.

No longer hiding behind her mask, Sarah gave him a small smile and laid her aged hand over his own. Chuck hoped that Sarah would continue to hold his hand, but instead she withdrew it after a few fleeting seconds, leaving Chuck with a sense of loss and a longing for the contact to be restored. He still couldn't figure her out. As soon as he thought that she saw him as more than an old friend that had popped in for a visit, she would do something that would make him question that notion.

Soon the remaining light gave way to darkness and the sky lit up with bursts of brightly colored explosions and all other sounds faded away. The show had begun and everyone was giving it their full attention. So, disregarding the confusion he felt regarding Sarah, Chuck too turned his attention toward the sky to watch the fireworks display.

However, every time Sarah made a comment about one of the fireworks, Chuck's attention was drawn away from the dazzling display in the sky and directed her way. It didn't matter what she said or who she was speaking to. Even a simple expression of awe pulled his eyes to her. Sarah's voice beside him, still new and unfamiliar, but with a feeling of familiarity to it, despite the changes it had gone through over the years, including a slight southern accent, was more mesmerizing than even the most brilliant firework. Hearing her voice so near to his ear was like music and he never tired of hearing her song.

When the illumination created by the final burst of fireworks faded away and the smoke began to clear, the crowd started to dissipate. Sarah's family however remained seated and made no move to leave. "With all the traffic leaving the beach at the same time, trying to get home right now would be nearly impossible," Samantha explained. "So we're going to wait for it to die down some before we head home. You're welcome wait with us if you'd like. You probably wouldn't be able to get a taxi out here for a while anyway."

"Thank you and you're probably right," Chuck responded, happy to have a legitimate excuse to spend more time with Sarah.

Chuck wanted to talk to her since he hadn't really gotten the opportunity to do so during the fireworks display. However, before he decided how to initiate a conversation with Sarah, Samantha asked him a question.

"So Chuck, what is your plan? How long are you staying here?"

"I don't know," Chuck answered. "I didn't really have any plan other than coming out here to see the ocean. Now that I have..."

"Are you going to go back home to California? That is where you're from right?"

"No, I could never go back to Burbank. I don't have anyone left there and it's too empty and painful to live there without them."

"So where do you plan on going next? Where are you going to live?"

"I haven't figured that out yet."

"What about New York? Where your niece lives?" Sarah inquired, jumping into the conversation.

"I think I'm too old to be moving to New York. I don't think I'd be able to handle it at my age."

Offering a potential solution to Chuck's dilemma, Samantha said, "If you don't want to move to New York, you could just stay here. This is a wonderful place to live. I think you would like it here. There are a lot of great things about this town and it's not a big, crowded, noisy city like New York."

Chuck had to admit that the idea of living in the same town as Sarah intrigued him, but he hadn't come here with the consideration of making it his home. His only purpose in travelling to this town had been to escape Burbank and see the ocean. He didn't really have any long-term plans. This conversation did bring up an important point though; he needed to figure out where he was going to live pretty soon. He couldn't stay at the hotel forever.


	4. Chapter 4

Sarah's mind swam with thoughts about the annual fireworks display all night, especially Samantha's suggestion to Chuck that he move out here. She was so consumed by replaying that moment over and over as she tried to work out her feelings regarding the idea that she didn't sleep very well. When the first rays of morning light filtered into her bedroom, eliminating any possibility that she would be able to get any more sleep and she still couldn't stop thinking about what her daughter had said she decided to talk to her. She needed to know why Samantha seemed to want Chuck to move out here. Otherwise she may never be able to get her daughter's words out of her head and never have another night of decent sleep again.

As soon as Sarah was able to get showered, washing some of her tiredness away and get dressed, making sure to not forget her hearing aids, she walked up to her daughter's house and knocked on the back door, hoping that she wasn't disturbing her family too early in the morning.

"Mom! What are you doing here?" Samantha asked as she invited her inside, while also securing a hug.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Of course Mom. You can talk to me about anything. Have you eaten breakfast yet? Sabrina just finished making blueberry pancakes."

"Are you sure there's enough?"

"I made plenty for everyone Grandma," Sabrina said, overhearing the conversation as Sarah and Samantha entered the kitchen. "Sit down. I'll make you a plate."

A few minutes later everyone was seated around the table and Samantha asked her mother what she wanted to talk about.

"Last night after the fireworks you were talking to Chuck about his plans and then you suggested he move here. What made you say that?"

"When I was growing up whenever I asked you about love and relationships, you always talked about the same mystery man. I could tell from your stories how much you cared about him. Now he has come back into your life. I've seen the way you are around Chuck. He makes you happy. I think you still have feelings for him and I know that he does. It's obvious in the way in looks at you. I think you both would enjoy having the other in your life again. That's why I suggested Chuck could make a home here when he said he needed a place to live."

"What makes you think I still have feelings for Chuck?" Sarah asked, swirling a piece of her blueberry pancake around the plate.

"You're my mother. I know you. I can tell that you care about him, even if you don't want to admit it."

"Even if that's true, what does it matter?"

"You've talked to me about love and relationships my whole life, but you've never even once had a single date or anything that could even remotely be considered a date. I'd like to see you have love in your life, or at least a good friend, someone who really knows you. And Chuck knows you better than anyone, about your secret life as a spy anyway. He's the only person who knows about that part of you."

"Samantha, sweetie, your mother is an old woman now. I'm too old for a relationship. Far too old. I'm probably not going to be around very much longer."

"Mom, don't talk like that," Samantha said as her voice wavered and threatened to break completely. "You're healthy and strong. You're not going anywhere for a long time. I love you and I intend to make sure that you are with me for a long time to come."

"I love you too sweetheart, but I'm eighty-one years old, 82 in just a couple of weeks. Almost everyone I know my age is dead. The few that are left are all younger than me."

"That's not true," Samantha said, using a pause in her mother's words to say something of her own. "Not anymore. Chuck is older than you. He's 82 now and he'll be 83 in September, just a couple of months from now. Even if you think you're too old for a relationship, which you aren't. No one is ever too old for love. Then at least you could have him in your life as a friend."

"We don't even know if Chuck is going to stay here. He said he hadn't made plans for where he wanted to live yet. Maybe he'll decide to keep travelling and see the country. That's what he came here for. Not for me."

"No, we don't know that he'll choose to stay here and find a permanent place to live. And maybe he didn't come here looking for you, but I think you might be the reason he stays. And wouldn't it be nice if he did? To have a friend? Someone to talk to about things that you can't tell anyone else?"

Sarah knew that Samantha was right, she would be happy if Chuck made her little town his home. But she was right too; Chuck hadn't come here for her. He had the chance to share a life with her once before and he walked away from that chance. What would make this time any different? It wasn't the life he chose then, so why would he choose any differently now? He wanted to see the world and experience new things and she definitely wasn't new. She was old, in more ways than one.

If she let herself hope that Chuck would make this his new, permanent home when he instead left on another mission to see the Statue of Liberty or visit the Grand Canyon or whatever interested him, all of those old feelings from Prague would resurface. She got through the pain once and was able to move on, but she doubted that she could handle it a second time, especially at her age. So instead she tried to put him out of her mind and forget that he was so close.

Back at his hotel Chuck was waking from his own restless night. His sleep troubles weren't due to the hotel bed however. It was actually quite comfortable and until last night had provided him with a great night's sleep. Instead, his lack of sleep was a result of the jumbled mess that currently filled his head.

While going through his morning routine Chuck tried to mentally sort everything out, everything that had been building up ever since that fateful day at the café. Sarah wasn't Sarah anymore and had not been so for a very long time. She was Savannah Smoak and she had a family. Savannah had built a wonderful life for herself without him, but her daughter had suggested that he make her little hometown his new home. However Samantha wasn't Savannah, wasn't Sarah. Whether she would like him to be around on a more permanent basis or whether she'd rather have him elsewhere, so as not to be reminded of the huge mistake he had made when they were young, when it would have mattered, was something he didn't know. When her daughter had made the suggestion moving of here the only expression on the face of the woman he once knew as Sarah was shock. That didn't really tell him anything.

The small South Carolina town they lived in was also vastly different in comparison to Burbank. It sort of reminded him of the places where people in old black & white TV shows lived, where everyone knew their neighbors. There were no tall city buildings, no big malls or shopping centers. He hadn't seen a Buy More, or any electronics store at all for that matter. Much of what he had seen were little family run shops, rather than big businesses. And though he didn't want to return to Burbank and the haunted memories he'd left behind there, he didn't know if a place so different from the home he had known was right for him.

He was getting nowhere and his head were just as jumbled as ever. The only thing he was achieving was confusion. He knew that he was forgetting something important from his morning routine, but his mind was in such a state thinking about Sarah and the quiet little town she had created a new home and life in that he couldn't figure out what he was overlooking. He was clean. He was dressed. He wasn't lacking any essential article of clothing. He had a shirt, pants, shoes, socks, everything. He didn't take any daily medication, lucky to still have great health. So that wasn't it. He had his hearing aids in, but he knew there was still something that wasn't right.

Chuck paced around his hotel room for several minutes trying to remember what he was neglecting, what he hadn't done. Finally, while still trying to figure out what that was as he stared at his reflection he realized what was missing. Suddenly it was so clear what he had forgotten or rather it wasn't clear at all. The mirror was reflecting a fuzzy image he had difficulty seeing. He had done everything else in his morning routine except for the most obvious. He'd forgotten to put on his glasses, which would make it possible for him to actually see properly. He didn't know how he could have possibly forgotten about his glasses. That was usually the very first thing he did after finishing his morning shower which he took immediately upon waking up. All this business with Sarah, Savannah, was really messing with his head. If this kept up who knows how scrambled he would become.

What he needed to do was take Sarah out of the equation. If she gave him any indication that she wanted him to stay, if he had the chance to correct the mistake he made in Prague he would. He would stay, he would follow her anywhere. He'd live in an igloo in the arctic if that's what she wanted. But he was fairly certain that Sarah wouldn't be giving him any clues one way or the other as to how she felt about him staying in the area or hanging around her. So what he needed to do was determine whether or not this was the kind of place he could spend the rest of his life, however long that may be, without factoring Sarah into the equation at all.

Chuck also needed to consider other places around the country or even the world that he might like to live as he approached the end of his life. Maybe instead of finding a place to live and making a new home for himself he would choose to continue traveling, seeing different sights and visiting places around the globe. He'd already been to a few places. At the age of forty, as a birthday present to himself he finally achieved his dream of going to Paris and seeing the Eiffel Tower. He got to see the Aurora Borealis, aka The Northern Lights, in Alaska, though that was some time ago as well, before the cold affected him so much. He'd also been to New York, the state, not the city, several times ever since his only niece moved up there and started a family.

All of his traveling hadn't been in years past though. During his journey across the country to see the Atlantic Ocean he made several stops and detours along the way, including one at the Grand Canyon. Those little detours had been enjoyable, as was all of the other traveling he done in his lifetime, so maybe that was something he should keep doing.

Only after carefully considering all of his options would he be able to make the right decision for him about whether or not to make a little South Carolina town his final home. The only problem with that was as long as he was around Sarah he wasn't going to be able to think clearly. So even though staying away from Sarah was the last thing he wanted to do now that he knew they were actually in the same state, the same town for the first time in over five decades; that was what he was going to have to do.

Until he decided what to do with the rest of his life he couldn't see Sarah, and if he ultimately decided to move on and settle somewhere else or spend his days traveling, then he would go see her one last time to say goodbye. He owed her that much. Back in Prague he had walked away without a word. This time if he chose to walk away again he would at least make sure that their relationship had a proper ending.


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: My copy of the She Loves Me Cast Recording arrived today, so you are getting this chapter a little early. Enjoy!**_

* * *

Nearly a week had passed since the Fourth of July holiday and except for the following morning at breakfast Sarah hadn't seen or spoken to any of her family, which was unusual for her. She never went that long without talking to them, but for the past couple of days she hadn't felt like talking to anyone. She just wanted to be alone.

With each passing day she had sunk further and further into a state of depression. Her mood had darkened to such a degree that she stopped wearing her hearing aids, which essentially rendered her deaf. By not wearing her hearing aids Sarah had plunged herself into a self-imposed isolation, which only served to plunge her deeper into despair.

When even the happy, smiling faces of her family in the portraits that filled her house became more than her dampened spirit could bare Sarah had to get away from them and escaped to the beach. At the beach Sarah would choose the most secluded spot she could find in her attempt to avoid all human contact. Putting distance between herself and her family, as well anyone who chose to visit the beach Sarah could be by herself and forget the rest of the world in empty silence.

Her daily trips to the beach had become something of a prison to feed her misery rather than the freeing ocean air and the sense of peace she had always found there before. She had just felt so empty this past week that she had pushed any sense of joy in her life away from her and instead made a new home in the haze of her despair.

Down at the beach Sarah sat staring out at the waves as they soundlessly crashed into the shore. Sarah kept her eyes fixated on the muted ocean, the vast expanse of water stretched out before her feeling almost lifeless without its sounds. The sense of lifelessness that Sarah found in the ocean by taking away her ability to hear it matched what she felt inside and it made her feel better by making her feel worse.

Chuck had disappeared after the holiday without a word and though she couldn't explain why her mood soon shifted drastically. Her once full and happy life was suddenly overtaken by a sense of inescapable despair. Why his absence could make her feel the way she did when he had been gone from her life for so long and she'd had little interaction with him since that day in the café, was a mystery to her. He shouldn't have this power over her, not to this degree, but somehow he did. For as much as she felt she had put her past behind her it seemed that she still carried some of it with her.

On this day, as early morning transitioned into afternoon storm clouds began to roll in and by mid-afternoon rain had started to fall. The wind picked up and stirred up the ocean. A downpour was coming and Sarah was sure that if she had her hearing aids in she would hear the distant rumble of thunder. As downtrodden as she felt she needed to head home before things got worse. She couldn't just sit there in the wet sands in the middle of the storm no matter how she was feeling inside.

In the five short minutes it took to get from the beach to her house the rain had picked up significantly and flashes of lightning lit up the blackened sky. The heavy rains slowed her down and forced her eyes to shield themselves from the onslaught, obscuring her vision. So when she suddenly saw something, someone, rapidly approaching her she couldn't really tell what, who, it was.

When the figure reached her she realized that it was her son-in-law Scott, carrying an umbrella. He wrapped his arm around her and walked her the rest of the way up to her house, where she saw her daughter and granddaughter, looking unmistakably worried.

Scott helped her inside her home, while Sabrina ran off toward the kitchen and Samantha headed off in another direction. Her daughter was the first to return, carrying a blanket which she wrapped around her shoulders, before getting her settled on the couch. Her granddaughter emerged from the kitchen a short time later carrying a steaming mug of hot chocolate.

Throughout everything all three of them were trying to talk to her, but she had no idea what they were saying. None of them were speaking loudly enough for her to understand their words without her hearing aids, but she didn't care. There was only one thing she wanted to say.

She sat silently for a moment and took a sip of her hot chocolate, then with her daughter sitting beside her with her arms wrapped around her and her granddaughter on the other side of her and son-in-law sitting on the other end of the couch, Sarah simply said two words.

"Chuck's gone."

Sarah could read the shocked reactions on everyone's face and she could see that they all had something to say about her comment, but she may as well have watching them from inside a soundproof box for all she could hear. She couldn't even begin to guess what anyone was saying, but apparently her lack of response sparked a sense of panic. Because Sarah didn't want to allow her pain to inflict any pain on her family, any more than it likely already had, she let them know that she wasn't wearing her hearing aids and couldn't hear what they were saying.

Her daughter started speaking louder then, much, much louder. She also spoke slowly and made sure that she could see her lips. It was just barely enough for Sarah to piece together that she was asking her where her hearing aids were.

"There's a little box in the drawer of my bedside table. I keep them in there," Sarah answered, unable to hear her own voice.

Apparently Sabrina volunteered to go find the hearing aids because her granddaughter got up from the couch and went toward her bedroom after she informed them where her hearing aids were located. She returned a minute later carrying the box her hearing aids were stored in, as well as her hairbrush. After she settled back into her spot on the couch next to her grandmother she handed her the little box.

Sarah took the box, opened it and removed her hearing aids one-by-one and placed them in her ears.

"Can you hear me now Mom?" Samantha asked after watching Sarah put the devices in her ears.

"Yes, sweetie. I can hear now."

"Why weren't you wearing your hearing aids Mom? You know that you can't hear without them."

"Because I didn't want to hear anything," Sarah replied without further explanation.

"What do you mean you didn't want to hear anything? Is something wrong? Are you feeling okay?" Samantha asked, sounding very worried.

"I'm okay. I mean I'm not sick or anything like that. It's Chuck."

"What about Chuck? A few minutes ago you said that he was gone. What did you mean?" Samantha asked, her worry now turning to confusion.

"Chuck left. I don't know where he went. All I know is that he chose not to stay here. He chose not to stay with me. It's just like Prague."

"Prague? What happened in Prague? When were you even there?"

"It was a long time ago. Back when I was still a spy."

"Tell us what happened Grandma, please," Sabrina said, speaking up when it seemed like Sarah wasn't going to say anything more. "While you tell us the story of what happened between you and Chuck in Prague I can brush your wet hair out for you so that it'll dry faster. Okay?"

As Sabrina removed the hairband from her grandmother's hair and started gently brushing through the rain-soaked locks, Sarah began to recount the events that led up to the Prague incident.

"I had been a spy for years when Chuck first came into my life and we started working together. The more time I spent with him the more I saw what a real life could be. Over the years our relationship grew, but as long as I was in the CIA we couldn't be together. Over time I reached a point where I wanted a real life with Chuck more than I wanted to be a spy. So we made plans to leave the spy life behind and create a new life together somewhere else. I started working on making all the arrangements we would need for our new lives and told Chuck when and where to meet me."

"When it was time to leave I could tell that something was wrong. Chuck didn't return my kiss when we met up. Instead of coming with me he gave me his ticket and walked back to the spy life. I got on the train and left, staring at the empty seat beside me the entire time."

"For a while I moved around from place to place, never staying anywhere for very long until I ended up here. I fell in love with this town pretty quickly and for the first time instead of staying in a hotel I found a house to call my own. I loved the house, but it and my life felt so empty being there all alone. I decided that Chuck not choosing this life with me wasn't going to prevent me from having one and within a year I decided to adopt a child. A few years later I was given the most beautiful baby girl to take home with me and call my own."

"The house wasn't empty anymore. I had a daughter and the real life I had left to find. It was just different than I imagined it. I moved on without Chuck and forgot about the life we planned to have until he popped back into my life last week. His reappearance brought up some of those old feelings, so now that he's gone again it feels like Prague all over."

By the time Sarah finished telling the story of Prague everyone in room, including Sarah herself was in tears.

Sabrina, who was now absentmindedly brushing Sarah's hair through the tears asked, "Are you sure that Chuck is gone, Grandma? If he didn't tell you that he was leaving, how do you know that he did?"

"Because I haven't seen him since the Fourth of July. If he was still around he would have found a reason to come here or to the café or beach to see me, but he hasn't been any of those places. I know Chuck and if he's not around it means he's gone."

"I'm sorry Mom," Samantha said, leaning over to kiss Sarah's cheek. "I wish I hadn't brought up the subject of Chuck moving out here."

"Samantha sweetie, Chuck is a grown man who can make his own decisions. We don't know why he decided to go, but I'm sure he made a decision that was the best one for his life. I wouldn't want him to do anything that wasn't the right choice for his life just because he felt it was what someone else wanted. We would just both end up feeling miserable if he did that. And of course I'll miss him for a little while, but I would have had the same feelings even if you never mentioned the idea of Chuck staying here. I'll be okay. Now that I've talked about it I'll be able to put it behind me again. If I hadn't avoided talking about it for so long maybe I could have already sorted through my feelings."

"But I haven't really lost anything. I have my two beautiful girls," Sarah said, looking at both her daughter and granddaughter with a smile, "and my wonderful son-in-law," she continued, looking over at Scott on the other end of the couch.

"Plus, now I have something I didn't have before. I know that Chuck is alive. That is something I could only hope before."

"Well, then I'm glad you got to see him again, Mom. Even if it was just for a short time."

"Me too, Grandma. I love you."

"I love you too baby," Sarah said, lightly kissing her granddaughter's cheek.

"The storm is getting worse," Sarah continued as the heavy rains pelted the roof and a loud crack of thunder echoed in her ears. "You three should stay here until it passes. Besides I haven't seen you all for almost a week. I've missed you all. It'll be nice to spend some time together."

While the storm raged on outside Sarah and her family gathered around the table to talk as they played a couple of games together. The sound of the storm was soon drowned out by their lively conversation and forgotten in the joy of each other's company. With each smile and laugh from Samantha, Sabrina and Scott Sarah's mood was lifted. And soon she began to feel like her old self again. The power of the love she felt for her family and the love they had for her proved to easily be far more powerful than any dark clouds in her life.

As for the dark clouds outside, Sarah and her family were so enjoying their afternoon together that no one noticed when the storm lifted and the sun came out as the weather cleared up to match Sarah's improved mood. Spreading its bright warmth in the now crystal clear blue sky, the sun smiled down on the little house reflecting on the warmth that was generated by the loving family inside.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Like the previous chapter this is a shorter transitional chapter as the story moves into the next phase. This chapter solely focused on Sarah, but we will be seeing things from Chuck's perspective soon.**_


	6. Chapter 6

After a week of serious debate, weighing all of his options, Chuck finally reached a decision. For the past eight days Chuck had looked into places around the world that could be possible travel destinations or potential new homes for him. He also spent the week exploring the town and surrounding area on his own. Though he missed Sarah and would have liked to see the place with her, have her show him her home, he found that he was enjoying his time in the quiet little town.

In the few days that he had spent hanging around town people had greeted him warmly and made him feel welcome. The friendly nature of the people he encountered reminded Chuck of just how alone he had been for so long. He was the sole survivor among his group of family and friends back at his old home in Burbank and he had forgotten what it was like to have friends, people he cared about, people who cared about him in his life. The people of Sarah's town made Chuck realize that he didn't want to be alone any longer. He wanted to build a new life, create new friends and relationships. He was staying. He had a new home.

Now that he was staying in South Carolina permanently Chuck wanted to see Sarah to share his decision with her. However Chuck quickly realized that he had overlooked a pretty big problem. He didn't actually know where Sarah lived. He didn't even have a phone number which he could use to get in contact with her.

Chuck really needed to talk to Sarah about his decision and if neither going to her house nor calling her were options then he was just going to have to figure something else out. His plan to find Sarah began with him going to the café where he first saw her. He knew that Sarah visited the café on occasion and if nothing else at least he would be able to get something to eat.

Arriving in time for the early bird breakfast special Chuck was promptly seated at one of the empty tables and handed a menu. As he perused the menu Chuck also looked around the restaurant. A handful of tables were occupied, mostly by other senior citizens, none of whom were Sarah, unfortunately.

"Good morning, sir," a middle-aged waitress with a warm, friendly smile said upon approaching his table. "May I take your order?"

"I think I'll try the early bird breakfast special I read about on my way in," Chuck answered handing his menu over.

"Excellent choice. That's one of our most popular breakfast options. What would you like to drink?"

"I'll take some orange juice please."

"Yes sir. I'll go get your orange juice and it shouldn't take too long to get your order ready."

As Chuck waited for his meal he continued to hope Sarah would come in for breakfast. Every time the door opened Chuck would turn his attention in that direction. Each time he was disappointed however. He had a brief flicker of hope when he looked up to see a white-haired woman, but that hope quickly faded when her husband followed her inside the café a few moments later.

"Here you are sir, one early bird breakfast special. Enjoy. Is there anything else I can get you?"

"Um, do you know Sar, uh, Savannah Smoak? I know she comes here sometimes."

"Miss Savannah. Yeah, I know Miss Savannah. She's a sweet woman."

"Do you know where she lives or how to get in contact with her? I'm looking for her."

"No sir. I don't. I'm sorry. If I see her I could tell her that you're looking for her, if you'd like. I don't when that'll be though."

"Thanks," Chuck replied. "I'll figure something out."

Well his first plan turned out to be a bust. Sarah hadn't shown up at the café this morning and his waitress hadn't been able to help him either. Chuck was starting to wonder how often Sarah actually ate here and just how much luck was involved in running into her that first day.

After breakfast Chuck headed down to the beach next. A place he knew for certain that Sarah frequented. He had been told by one of the lifeguards that it was almost a daily occurrence, so he hoped to have better luck here. He just didn't know if she had a usual time to visit the beach or what time that would be if she did.

Arriving on the beach Chuck noticed that there was no one else around. Looking at the empty beach it was immediately clear that Sarah wasn't here. At least not right now, but he wasn't ready to give up just yet.

Chuck wandered across the soft sand for a bit until he decided to take a seat on the stairs of a lifeguard tower. He didn't want to try to sit on the ground when no one was around to help him get back up, but he still wanted to get off his feet. They were aching and begging for a little rest.

As Chuck sat on the lifeguard steps he watched the waves of the ocean and memories of sitting on the beach with Sarah filled his mind, only strengthening his resolve to get in touch with her.

Chuck got so lost in the waves and the memories that he was nearly startled into a heart attack when someone approached without his noticing. Suddenly hearing his name next to his ear caused him to jump so much that the man who spoke to him immediately sprang into action to keep him from potentially falling off the stairs.

"Woah, Chuck, are you okay?" he asked as he braced the old man with his hands.

After taking a moment to begin calming his racing heart Chuck looked up to see the lifeguard, Brett, standing over him looking quite worried.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Chuck answered as his heart continued to work on recovering from the sudden shock. "I just didn't know you were there."

"Are you sure you're alright? You don't need me to call you a doctor or anything."

"No, I'll be fine, but could I ask you something?"

"Of course sir. What is it?"

"I'm trying to find…, Savannah," Chuck said, pausing in his words to get her name right. "Do you know where I can find her or how I could get in touch with her?"

Shaking his head Brett said, "Miss Savannah never mentioned anything about where she lived. I'm pretty sure she walks here from her house though, so she can't live too far away. But didn't you come down to the beach with Miss Savannah about two weeks ago?"

"I did, but I had only just arrived in town and didn't really know my way around. So I was a bit lost."

"I'm sorry Chuck. I wish I could have been of more help."

Again Chuck had failed. Sarah wasn't on the beach this morning and the lifeguard Brett couldn't tell him anything useful. Despite his failings however Chuck wasn't giving up. He wanted Sarah to know that he had chosen to live here. He felt she deserved to know.

He needed to come up with another idea for tracking Sarah down. Searching his memory Chuck tried to remember the name of her son-in-law. Both he and her daughter were doctors, so maybe he could find her through them. He racked his brain for several minutes before he recalled the name.

Immediately Chuck pulled out his phone and began a search of doctors in the area with the first name of Scott. That was as much as he knew. He couldn't remember if he'd ever been told his last name. If he had, he didn't remember it now.

Chuck's search only produced two doctors named Scott and only one of them was listed as being a surgeon. Remembering that Sarah's daughter mentioned her husband preforming a surgery, Chuck was sure that he had to be Sarah's son-in-law. Dr. Scott Collins.

After getting the information about which hospital he worked at and a general idea of where it was located Chuck called for a taxi. He just hoped that he had the right doctor and that he was working today. He didn't have any other ideas for finding Sarah after this one.

Walking through the doors of the hospital half-an-hour later Chuck went looking for a nurse's station. As an old man walking through a hospital looking lost Chuck drew pretty quick attention from a passing nurse who interpreted him to be a patient. She guided him to the nearest nurse's station where he was handed a form to fill out. Before he knew it that same nurse was seating him in one of the waiting room chairs nearby.

Chuck stared at the form in his hands for a few moments before getting to his feet and walking back up to the nurse's station. It was frustrating the way people treated him sometimes just because he was elderly, like he couldn't take care of himself or couldn't figure out things on his own.

"Yes, sir," one of the nurses sitting behind the desk said looking up at Chuck. "Can I help you with something? Is there something you don't understand?"

Sighing, Chuck started off by explaining that he wasn't a patient and that he didn't need to see a doctor for any medical purposes. Instead he tried to explain that he was looking for Dr. Scott Collins and hoped to speak to him for a moment if possible. However, not fully comprehending Chuck's words the nurse simply told him that if he was here for surgery he would have to fill out the form first and tried to hand the clipboard back to him.

Trying to explain himself again Chuck calmly and slowly said, "I'm not here for surgery or any other kind of medical treatment. I just want to know if Dr. Scott Collins is currently on duty and if I could speak to him for just a moment when he has the time."

Chuck wasn't sure whether she understood him that time either or not, but at least she was looking on the computer to see if Dr. Collins was working today.

"Yes sir," the nurse said after briefly searching the computer. "Dr. Collins is here today."

"Good," Chuck responded, relieved to finally be getting somewhere. "Could you have him meet me out here as soon as he is available?"

When it seemed that he had gotten his message across Chuck returned to the waiting room chair, leaving the clipboard at the desk. As he sat waiting for the doctor, he really hoped he had the right Scott. If he had gotten the wrong doctor he was going to be really embarrassed after all of this. Not to mention how much time and energy he would have wasted on the wrong lead.

Time moved so slowly as Chuck sat in the waiting room, waiting for whom he really hoped was Sarah's son-in-law. Looking for a way to pass the time that didn't involve staring at the clock, which seemed to be standing still, Chuck picked up a magazine from the table to his left. The magazine didn't particularly interest him, but it was still a much better distraction than the agonizingly slow tick of the clock. Randomly flipping through the magazine Chuck looked at the colorful pictures and read any article he came across that looked at least halfway interesting.

Finally after going through three or four magazines, he couldn't remember which, Chuck noticed the nurse he had spoken to earlier talking to a man in a white coat and pointing in his direction. Chuck tried to gage whether or not he had the right doctor, but without being able to see his face, he couldn't tell. Chuck couldn't even be sure that the man's name was Scott Collins and not just some doctor the nurse felt he needed. So the only thing Chuck could do was wait a little bit longer.

The man dressed in a doctor's coat turned around a short time later and Chuck got his answer. This was the man Sarah had introduced him to at her daughter's house the other week. He had found the Dr. Scott that he was looking for.

Dr. Collins recognized him as well because as soon as he turned around to approach him a look of surprise crossed his face and he said, "Chuck?!"

Sarah's son-in-law took a seat next to him and told Chuck how surprised he was to see him and how he thought he had left town already. He then asked Chuck what he wanted to see him about.

"I'm trying to get in touch with Savannah and I was hoping that you could help me. There is something I wanted to talk to her about."

"Of course Chuck. I'm actually on my lunch break, so we could go see her now if you'd like. Where have you been this past week though? Savannah was certain that you had checked out of your hotel and moved on."

"I had some things I needed to figure out before I talked to her. But then I realized that I had no way to get in touch with her and I've been trying to find someone who could help me all morning."

"Well, come on," Scott said standing up and extending his hand out to Chuck. "Let's go talk to Savannah."

Chuck followed Dr. Collins out of the hospital to the parking lot where they both got in his car. During the ride over to meet Sarah at her house, at least that's where Chuck assumed they were going, he tried to learn the names of as many of the roads as possible. He hoped that it would help him to find Sarah on his own in the future.

Twenty minutes later Chuck and Dr. Collins pulled into the driveway for the Collins home. As they got out of the car Scott told Chuck that he was welcome to come in with him and have lunch with his family if he would like. Chuck thanked Scott for all he had done and told him that he didn't want to take up any more of his lunch hour and that he would be fine to take things from here.

As Sarah's house came into view Chuck smiled, it had taken him half a day, but he had finally made it. With each step he made toward her house Chuck's anticipation grew, but so did the nerves that were churning in the pit of his stomach. What would she think of seeing him? Of his decision to move here? Scott had indicated that Sarah seemed to think that he was gone, but he hadn't said anything about how she felt about his supposed departure. He was about to find out though as he raised his hand to knock on the door.

After knocking Chuck anxiously waited for Sarah to answer, wondering what her reaction would be. Still waiting for Sarah to answer her door after forty-five seconds Chuck knocked again. As he did so, he began to worry that perhaps Sarah wasn't home. Or maybe she was, but she knew that he was the one at her door and she didn't want to see him. Then thirty seconds after the second knock the door knob started to turn.

Sarah had the door open a short time later and the expression on her face immediately transformed into one of shock. After a moment of quietly staring at him, still in a state of shock, Sarah said one word, "Chuck?!"

"Hello Sarah. May I come in? I want to talk to you."

"Um, sure," Sarah said looking at something behind her.

Noticing that Sarah was clearly distracted Chuck said, "You don't have to let me in if you don't want to or if this is a bad time. I'll understand."

"No, it's fine Chuck come in. I just don't want my food to burn. Have you eaten lunch yet? If not, you can eat with me."

"That sounds nice, but I don't want to take your food."

"When cooking for just myself I always have a lot of leftover food. There will be plenty for both of us."

"Okay," Chuck said accepting Sarah's invitation. "I am getting hungry. I ate breakfast pretty early this morning."

Sarah welcomed Chuck into her home and invited him to take a seat while she excused herself to the kitchen to tend to her food. Instead of going to the living room to find a seat however, Chuck chose to follow Sarah into the kitchen.

"Do you need any help?"

"It's okay Chuck. I've got it. Why don't you just take a seat at the table? It's almost finished."

"Are you sure there isn't anything I can do to help?"

"I'm sure Chuck. You're a guest. Sit down."

"Okay Sarah. Thanks," Chuck said as he pulled out the chair closest to where he was standing and slowly lowered himself into it.

Just a few short minutes later Sarah had prepared two plates of food and took a seat in the chair across from Chuck. "I wasn't expecting company for lunch, so I hope you like it."

"Sarah this is delicious," Chuck commented after taking a few bites. "I didn't know you could cook like this!"

"Well what kind of grandma can't cook?" Sarah teased. "Besides whom do you think taught Sabrina? When she was a little girl she always wanted to cook with her grandma. She has surpassed my skill level now though."

When the subject of cooking died down Sarah brought up another topic? "Where have you been for the past week Chuck? I thought you had left town already."

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. I spent the last week exploring the town and thinking and I've decided to move out here permanently. I haven't had a real home in a long time. It's time for me to have a place I can call home again and I've really liked what I've seen during my time here. So I'm going to be staying and I thought that you should know about my decision no matter what happens."

"What do you mean?"

"You've been out here living a life far separated from your old one for a long time now and I don't want you to feel that I'm trying to steal the life you found for yourself after you gave up the CIA."

"Chuck I don't think that at all. I would never think that. I'm actually happy that you've decided to stay. I've enjoyed having you back in my life. When I thought you were gone I really missed you."

As Chuck listened to Sarah say that she was happy that he was staying and that she had missed him this past week the smile that had only ever been reserved for her found its way to his face.

"Me too," Chuck responded. "It's quite lonely being the last one living in your family. Well except for my niece, but I don't get to see her very often. So it's been really nice to have a connection like that again."

Sarah gave Chuck a small nod before asking, "So have you found a place to live yet or are you still at the hotel?"

"No, I'm still at the hotel. I really don't know what I'm going to do about a place to live yet. I don't think I could afford a house and I can't live anywhere that requires me to walk up flights of stairs every day. I'm just too old for that now. My hotel room, even though it's on the fifth floor I can take the elevator and it's right in town, which means I don't have to travel far to get to the places I need to go. Except for here maybe. I actually still don't really know where you live. I spent all day trying to figure that out, until I finally tracked down your son-in-law and he gave me a ride."

"I was wondering about that," Sarah admitted. "After we finish lunch I'll give you my address and my phone number, so you won't have to go through so much trouble to try to get in touch with me again."

"And I can give you a number where you can reach me at the hotel until I find somewhere else to live."

A few minutes later Chuck and Sarah had finished eating and at Chuck's insistence since he was partly responsible for the mess, they began cleaning up the kitchen together. Once the remaining food was put away and all of the dirty dishes had been rinsed and placed in the dishwasher, Chuck and Sarah headed toward the living room.

In the living room Chuck couldn't help but look around. He was seeing the inside of Sarah's house for the first time and he was curious. The very first thing that caught his attention were all of the framed photographs sitting on the mantle of the fireplace and hanging on the wall above it.

Wanting to take a closer look at the pictures Chuck stepped up to the mantle. Most of the pictures on display on both the fireplace mantle and the wall appeared to be professional portraits. Picking up one of the framed photographs of a baby, Chuck turned to Sarah and asked, "Is this your granddaughter?"

"No, actually that's Samantha on the day I became her mother and got to take her home. I wanted to commemorate the day she became my daughter, so I found a baby photographer and had her picture made. She was five months old when I finally got to take her home."

"This is Sabrina," Sarah said showing Chuck a picture of a little girl who looked to be four or five years old with Sabrina's unmistakable deep black hair and bright blue eyes.

On the other end of the mantle was a family portrait where Chuck didn't have to guess who was in the photo. In the picture a smiling toddler wrapped her arms around the neck of Sarah, who didn't look too much older than when Chuck last saw her in Prague, so he immediately knew the baby was Samantha.

After seeing the picture of Sarah and her daughter Chuck asked, "Do you have a picture of you and your granddaughter?"

"Up there," Sarah said pointing to a picture hanging on the wall that included the whole family, Samantha, her husband Scott, a young Sabrina and of course Sarah, who was beginning to look more like she did in the present day.

"You've always been so beautiful Sarah," Chuck said as he turned his attention away from the pictures and back toward her.

"I was young the last time you saw me Chuck. I'm an 81 year old woman now. I've changed a lot since then."

"I like those changes and to me you are just as beautiful as you ever were," Chuck responded sincerely.

Changing the subject, but not without cracking a smile first, Sarah said, "I can give you that information now if you want."

Nodding his agreement Chuck followed Sarah to the couch and took a seat next to her. As Sarah gave Chuck her address and phone number, as well as those for her family he entered the information into his own phone. He then gave Sarah his phone number as well as the room number and contact information for the hotel where he was staying.

Once Chuck and Sarah finished exchanging all the relevant information for keeping in touch with each other Sarah changed the subject once again. "Chuck, I'm sorry that I don't have more time to spend with you today. I already have plans with my daughter and granddaughter. Scott is working today and they wanted us to have some sort of 'girls' day out' or something. They didn't really say exactly. They just wanted to get me out of the house."

"I understand Sarah. You have a life and a family. I don't expect you to drop everything for me," Chuck said slowly rising to his feet.

"I really am sorry Chuck. I did enjoy having lunch with you though," Sarah said standing up after Chuck to escort him to the door. "You're going to be moving here now though, so we will have plenty of chances to spend time together in the future. Just call me sometime and we can make our own plans."

Reaching the door they said their goodbyes, and to Chuck's surprise before he left Sarah wrapped her arms around him, giving him an unexpected, but very welcome hug, which he gladly returned. Smiling, Chuck bid Sarah one final goodbye and headed out the door, looking forward to any opportunity that arose which would allow he and Sarah to spend more time together.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Chuck has decided to stay and make a new home for himself. What affect will that decision have on things between Chuck and Sarah?**_


	7. Chapter 7

Two days after Chuck stated his intention to stay in South Carolina Sarah sat on her couch, staring at her phone, unsure of what she should do. Before Chuck told her that he intended to settle here she was cautious about letting him get too close, knowing that he could walk out of her life at any moment just like Prague. Because of those fears she had kept a wall around her heart so that he couldn't break it again. Her heart wasn't strong enough for that anymore. Sure she hadn't been able to protect her heart as well as she would've liked and though it hadn't broken, it did crack despite her best efforts. But a crack could be repaired, so in the end she was okay. However, now things had changed with Chuck's announcement.

Ever since Chuck left her house that day Sarah had been trying to figure out what his decision meant for their relationship. Seeking advice, when Samantha and Sabrina took her out later that Saturday, Sarah told them about Chuck's visit. It was her daughter's words that stuck with her all weekend. She told her that she had been shielding her heart for far too long, not letting anyone other than her family get close to her and that it was time to let someone in.

After contemplating those words for forty-eight hours Sarah had come to realize that Samantha was right. It was time to let go of her fears and her walls and to just see what would happen between Chuck and herself. She was approaching the end of her life and she didn't want to die with any regrets, especially not ones involving Chuck. Picking her phone up off the coffee table Sarah searched for Chuck's name and called the number.

As the phone started to ring Sarah waited for Chuck to answer and tried to figure out what she was going to say.

It took a while for Chuck to answer, but Sarah still hadn't really figured out what she was going to say when she heard his voice on the other end of the line. So instead she just said the first thing that popped into her head. "Hello Chuck. What are you doing today?"

"Sarah?" Chuck responded in such a way that she was unsure whether he didn't know that it was her or if he was just surprised to be hearing from her.

She answered by saying, "Yeah Chuck, it's Sarah. During the week it's usually pretty quiet around here." After pausing for a moment before remembering that she was supposed to be taking charge she continued with, "So if you have no other plans for today maybe we could make up for Saturday?"

"Well I was thinking about spending the day at the hotel playing checkers with myself."

Laughing, Sarah said, "It sounds like you've got a very exciting day planned."

"Definitely and since I don't have any checkers I'll just imagine myself playing until I forget what I was doing and end up staring at the table."

Laughing even harder now, Sarah replied, "Well I can't compete with that. I'm jealous now. I wish my plans were that fun."

"Hmm," Chuck said thinking. "Maybe we could play imaginary checkers together?"

"I think that sounds like a great idea. I'll get the imaginary board set up for us, so it'll be ready when you get here. Unless you think I'll rig the game and you want to bring your own set?"

"No, I think I'll trust you. Besides I wouldn't want to lose my imaginary checkers set. It's pretty valuable you know."

Between bouts of laughter on both ends of the receiver Chuck and Sarah said their goodbyes and promised to see each other soon.

Half-an-hour later when there was a knock on her door Sarah got to her feet as quickly as she was able and hurried to the door to let Chuck in. Before she could even welcome him inside he asked if their imaginary checkers game was ready. With a laugh Sarah stepped aside to allow Chuck into her home and said that unfortunately she hadn't been able to find the checkers set.

"Don't worry," Chuck said. "I've had that same problem with my checkers. I guess we will just have to find something else to do."

"I guess so," Sarah said. Then noticing the box Chuck was carrying she asked, "What do you have there?"

"Well I thought that since you showed me some family pictures the other day that you should get to see some of mine, if you want."

"I'd like that," Sarah said smiling. "Why don't we sit at the table?"

Chuck followed Sarah to the table where they sat side-by-side and pushed their chairs close together. Then lifting the lid of the box, Chuck removed a stack of photos and laid them on the table in front of himself and Sarah.

"This is one of my favorites," Chuck said, showing Sarah a picture of himself in a hospital room holding a tiny baby wearing a pink hat.

"Is that your niece? What was her name?"

"Yes, it is. Her name is Clara. This picture was taken the day she was born. I was the first one who got to hold her, even before Ellie or Devon."

"She's very cute. I would love to have a picture of Samantha as a newborn to know what she looked like then. I didn't get any newborn pictures until my granddaughter came along and I guess I was trying to make up for missing that time in my daughter's life. I have so many pictures of Sabrina at that age."

"I understand that. I have a lot of pictures of Clara. I wish I had more of Milo and Auggie."

When Chuck noticed the confused expression on her face, he added, "Those are her sons. Clara was already living in New York when they were born, so I never got to spend a lot of time with them."

"I'm sure I have a picture of them somewhere," Chuck said as he started searching through the stack of photos. "Ah, here's one. This one even has Clara and her husband in it."

"Which one is Milo and which one is Auggie?" Sarah asked looking at the two young boys.

"Milo is the one on the left," Chuck said indicating the older child. "And Auggie is on the right. This is a pretty old picture though. I'll see if I can find a more recent one."

Chuck began searching though the pictures again, but before he found another picture of Clara's son he came across a picture that caused him to put his hunt aside. The picture that suddenly captured Chuck's full attention was that of an older man and woman.

Sarah was able to tell that the man in the photo was Chuck, so she assumed that the woman in the picture with him was Ellie. But she couldn't be sure however. It had been so long since she last saw Chuck's sister that she didn't know if she could pick her out of a photo.

Before she could ask about the picture Chuck started talking. "I love this picture of me and Ellie. It's actually the last photo of the two of us together. It's also one of the last pictures of my sister ever taken," Chuck said becoming more and more emotional with each word.

"This wasn't taken very long before she died. She was sick at the end and we knew that she didn't have a lot of time left. Ellie wanted Devon and I to have these pictures of her before she got too sick. She wanted us to remember her that way."

"I'm so sorry, Chuck," Sarah said sympathetically as she wiped the moisture from her eyes.

When tears began trailing down his face Sarah moved closer to Chuck and laid a hand across his arm. Soon her hand moved to the crook of his arm where it was joined by the other as she gently laid her head over on his shoulder. Offering silent comfort she let Chuck have a moment with his grief.

After a minute or two Chuck regained his composure at which point he and Sarah resumed looking at pictures together. Following the heartbreaking picture of Ellie the rest of the pictures were of a happier nature. Chuck showed her photos of his family and friends, telling her fun stories about them along the way. And through all of the tales and the laughter, Sarah's head never left Chuck's shoulder.

Once they finished looking through all of the photographs Chuck had brought with him he returned them to the box, after which he turned to Sarah.

"Do you have any pictures other than the ones you have on display in your living room?"

"Oh, you wouldn't be interested in those. My photo albums mostly consist of childhood photos of Samantha and Sabrina."

"I'd like to see them if you want to show me."

"I'm not in many of the pictures. It was just me and Samantha when she was growing up, so I was always the one taking the photos."

"I'd still like to see them and get a sense of what your life was like all these years."

"Okay," Sarah said as she slowly stood up. "All my albums are in the living room."

Chuck got up and followed Sarah into the living room, where he took a seat on the couch, while Sarah retrieved a couple photo albums. It only took a moment and soon Sarah was seated right next to Chuck, snuggling a little closer than perhaps she had to. Leaning against him earlier at the table while they looked at his pictures had been nice and she now found herself missing that contact.

Opening the first photo album across both her own lap and Chuck's, Sarah began showing Chuck the pictures inside, telling him about her life along the way. Before she realized it her head again found itself resting against Chuck's shoulder as they looked through the book together. Something about leaning on Chuck felt so comfortable. She just hoped that doing so wasn't uncomfortable for Chuck.

Almost as if reading her mind Chuck softly laid his head against hers which signified to Sarah that he was just as comfortable as she was, causing the corners of her mouth to turn upward for a brief moment. Knowing that Chuck was comfortable with her head on his shoulder Sarah relaxed against him even further and her heart began to race, in a good way.

After looking through half of Sarah's photo album which was filled with nothing but pictures of her daughter's early years, the first pictures that included Sarah finally appeared. While Chuck took extra interest in the photos Sarah explained they were from Samantha's first trip to Disney World when she was five years old.

"You've been to Disney World?!"

"Yeah, I took Samantha a few times when she was a little girl. She loved it there. Still does actually. She and Scott have taken Sabrina down there several times. I went along on a couple of the trips."

Chuck proceeded to tell Sarah how much he had wanted to go there someday, but never had the chance to do so. Remembering Chuck's stories about all of the traveling he had done in his life and all of the amazing things he had seen Sarah was surprised that he seemed so jealous that she had been to Disney World a handful of times, especially when she knew that he had probably been to Disneyland far more often than she had been to the Florida park.

"You could still go if you wanted to."

"No, I think I'm too old for that now. Besides you're here and that is better than anything I could ever find in Disney World or anywhere else."

Sarah couldn't hide the blush that rose to her cheeks, so instead she focused back on the photo album and turned the page, hoping to direct Chuck's attention to the book and away from her. As Sarah talked about the pictures on the new page she subtly glanced up at Chuck out of the corner of her eye to see what he was doing. Seeing that Chuck had diverted his attention to the pictures she was talking about just like she wanted, Sarah felt the nervous energy that colored her cheeks dissipate.

For the next half hour Chuck and Sarah continued to look through old photographs while Sarah shared memories that were sparked by the pictures. Once the photo albums were put aside Chuck and Sarah kept talking about anything that came to mind. It didn't take long before they began making plans to get together again, tomorrow.

As Sarah awoke on Tuesday morning she smiled because later today she would be meeting Chuck on the beach. Beaches held a special significance in her relationship with Chuck and that first day on 'her beach' was when all of the old feelings Sarah had for Chuck started flooding back. Before she tried to block out and ignore those feelings because she feared having her heart broken again when Chuck walked back out of her life. Now that he was making a home here she was ready to take a chance on allowing those feelings into her heart and see where they took her.

After getting dressed Sarah stepped up to the mirror and started working on her hair. She spent a few minutes brushing her snowy white locks smooth before grabbing a hairband. Then, just as she was about to start braiding she changed her mind and for the first time in years, Sarah decided to leave her hair down, recalling a comment her granddaughter made while brushing it after being caught in the storm.

Looking forward to seeing Chuck, Sarah left for the beach a little early. She then spent what seemed like forever waiting for him to arrive. When she finally saw him out on the sand searching for her she smiled and became nervous at the same time. He had only ever seen her hair braided, but now loose and blowing in the wind, under the summer sun her hair would be illuminated, reflecting just how white it really was. So even though she had worn hair down just for him, now that he was about to see her Sarah found herself worrying what Chuck would think of it.

Cautiously, Sarah approached Chuck as he continued to seek her out. While Chuck stood with his back to her, Sarah softly spoke his name to gain his attention.

Turning around, an unmistakable look of confusion flashed across Chuck's face as he said, "Sarah? Is that you?" Followed by, "You look different with your hair down."

"Does, it look bad?" Sarah asked nervously.

"Not at all. It's beautiful. You're beautiful."

"It isn't too white? Make me look like an old woman?"

"No, I love your white hair and I didn't realize how long it was. You should wear your hair down more often. It looks great. If you want to talk about looking old, just look at me. My hair is just dull gray, not a beautiful, pure white like yours and I don't have nearly as much as I used to. These glasses probably don't really help either."

"I love your glasses. They're very…, 'Chuck'. I see the Chuck I used to know in those glasses."

Smiling, Chuck asked, "Do you want to sit down somewhere?"

"Sure," Sarah said, as she took his arm and began leading him to her favorite spot.

Shortly after they were comfortably settled, Chuck produced a well-worn, folded piece of paper from his shirt pocket. "I found this yesterday after I went back to my hotel," Chuck said, suddenly sounding anxious. "I had forgotten all about it. I wrote this for you a long time ago. I want you to read it now."

Sarah took the old, frail paper Chuck was holding out for her and gently unfolded it. She then lightly laid her hand over the paper and looked over at Chuck. "Thank you Chuck, but I can't read this without my glasses and I don't have them with me."

"You can use mine," Chuck offered.

"But what about you? You won't be able to see without your glasses."

"I'll be okay without them for a little while."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Here," Chuck said slipping his glasses off of his face and holding them out toward Sarah.

Sarah spent a moment looking at the glasses Chuck was offering her before reaching up to take them out of his hand. She then spent several more seconds just looking at Chuck's glasses which were now in her hands. She was about to put his glasses on her face and try to read a letter her wrote for her, who knows how long ago.

After taking a moment to consider what trying on Chuck's glasses meant and what it would feel like, she slipped them onto her face. Following a few seconds to ascertain the differences in their prescriptions, Sarah was ready to see if she would be able to read Chuck's letter while wearing his glasses.

Before she was able to look down at the paper in her lap however, Chuck spoke. "I wish I could see what you looked like in my glasses."

"I kind of wish I could see too. I've never worn any other glasses than the pair I have at home."

"I have an idea," Chuck said as he started to pull his phone out. I can take a picture and then we can both look at it later, you know when I'm able to actually see clearly again."

"Okay," Sarah said, amused by Chuck's comment. "Just how bad is your eyesight anyway?"

"Without my glasses everything is fuzzy. I can see well enough that I wouldn't end up walking into walls or furniture, but I can't really see any details. I can kind of see where the features of your face are, but nothing more than that."

Sarah watched as Chuck tried to take a picture of her on his phone without really being able to see what he was doing and asked, "Can you get it?"

"Yeah, I got it. Now smile. I probably won't be able to really tell when you're ready, so just smile and hold still until I take the picture okay?"

"Okay," Sarah said laughing, just as Chuck clicked the button to take a picture.

"One more Chuck said as he snapped another photo. "There that should do it."

"Okay," Sarah repeated with another laugh. "Now I guess I should see if I'll actually be able to read anything with these glasses or not."

Bringing the paper up to a comfortable reading position Sarah cast her eyes downward to see if she could make out the words written on it.

"Are they going to work?" Chuck asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Sarah replied. "They definitely aren't the same as my glasses, but I can see the words well enough."

After hearing Sarah's response, Chuck sat quietly and allowed her to read the letter.

 _Sarah, it's only the first week of training and I'm already counting down the days until I see you again. I really miss you. I think about that day at the train station a lot and I wish that I had given you the kiss that you were expecting that day. You deserved a real kiss. A kiss that would reflect my feelings for you. There is something that I've wanted to tell you for a while, but I haven't been able to say the words out loud, so instead I'm going to try writing them down. I love you Sarah. More than that I'm in love with you and I know that you are the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. I don't know if I'm ready to tell you that part yet though. But I guess I just did, or will whenever you read this._

 _You are amazing Sarah and I want to become someone worthy of you. That's why I am going through all of this training to become a real spy. Once we are both spies and I actually make something of my life, hopefully I will be more deserving of your love. Once I become a spy we will be able to explore our feelings for each other and nothing will be able to keep us apart._

 _One last time, I love you Sarah and when I get back I hope we can build a real life together. I want to give you everything you deserve. The life you deserve. The man you deserve and the love that you deserve. I hope those last two are something that I can actually give you._

 _Now that I've written all of this I'm not sure that I can show it to you, but I know that when I see you again I will find the courage to tell you how I feel about you. I'll tell you that I love you. I only wish I had been able to say that at the train station before I walked away. ~Chuck_

As Sarah finished reading Chuck's letter to a much younger version of herself she linked her fingers with his and turned to look at him with watery eyes, tears coating the lenses of his glasses.

For several seconds Sarah sat looking at Chuck, holding his hand, her fingers laced with his and reflecting on what she had just read before remembering that she was wearing his glasses and that he couldn't see without them. "Oh, sorry, Chuck," Sarah said as she removed the glasses from her face and quickly wiped the lenses. "Thank you for letting me borrow them for a minute."

Carefully folding the glasses up after she cleaned her tears off the lenses, Sarah placed the black frames in Chuck's hand and waited for him to put them back on his own face where they belonged. Once he had the glasses in place Sarah smiled and said, "Hello Chuck."

"Hello Sarah," Chuck replied. "It's nice to see you again."

"Thank you for the letter Chuck. It was really beautiful."

"I really wish I had been able to tell you that I loved you back then. I guess it's too late for that now."

"I loved you too Chuck and my daughter says that it is never too late," Sarah responded automatically before her old brain registered what she was saying.

It seemed as though whenever Sarah was on the beach with Chuck her heart opened up and she wasn't afraid to let Chuck see it. After their first day at the beach she had told herself that she shouldn't be having feelings for him. Today she had worn her hair down for the first time in years specifically for him. Then, just moments ago she had told Chuck that she had loved him too back then. Even in the past, back in Burbank when she was a spy and Chuck was just an asset she barely knew she let herself get close to him. The beach just always seemed to bring the feelings Sarah had for Chuck ever since the day they first met to the surface.

"Do you want to look at those pictures now?" Chuck asked, pulling Sarah out of her thoughts.

"Sure," Sarah said with a smile as she moved closer.

Chuck pulled his phone out again and while he looked for the pictures he took a few minutes ago of Sarah wearing his glasses, she laid her head against his shoulder.

Settled against Chuck in what was becoming her favorite spot, Chuck pulled up the first picture of her wearing his glasses. The photo had captured her laugh when Chuck had made a comment about taking pictures blindly.

"You did a pretty good job, Chuck. Looking at this picture you'd never guess that you couldn't see very clearly when you took it."

"I guess so, but what I really notice is how cute you look in my glasses. I think you might look better in them than I do," Chuck said as he scrolled to the second photo.

"No, you definitely look better in them," Sarah said looking up from the phone. "Absolutely. Those glasses were made for you."

"I guess I don't look too bad in them though," Sarah continued after a brief pause. "But it is strange to see myself in a different pair of glasses."

"You don't look bad in them at all. I do like the way you look in your own glasses better though. White just looks good on you, whether it's your glasses or your hair. And I still love the way they match."

After one last look at the photos, Chuck put his phone away and Sarah once more leaned her head over on Chuck's shoulder. In response Chuck brought his head to rest gently against Sarah's. Together they then sat wordlessly in the soft sands as they enjoyed the peaceful quiet of an empty beach, with only the gentle sounds of the ocean for company.

As they sat in comfortable silence, appreciating the beautiful view around them the temperature quickly climbed, rising to a degree higher than their ages. In other words it got quite hot. It didn't take long for the hot, summer day to become too much for their aged bodies to handle, leading Chuck to suggest that they seek cooler conditions and possibly grab an ice cream or some frozen yogurt.

Agreeing with Chuck that it was just too hot to stay on the beach any longer Sarah slowly rose to her feet, then helped Chuck to do the same.

Once he was steady on his feet Chuck turned to Sarah and half-jokingly asked, "So is there an Orange Orange around here?"

With an amused laugh Sarah said, "No unfortunately the Orange Orange isn't real. It was just a CIA creation and I don't think there are any spies around. Well, I guess unless you include us, then you could sort of say there were spies here, former spies."

"That's too bad. They had great frozen yogurt."

Another amused laugh escaped from Sarah's lips when she challenged Chuck's statement saying, "Did you ever even eat any of the frozen yogurt."

"I had some once or twice," Chuck said, defending his statement.

"Well I don't know about any frozen yogurt, but I know of a place that sells amazing ice cream."

Slowly walking across the beach in the scorching sun, Chuck and Sarah quickly determined that it was just far too hot for them to make the five minute trek back to Sarah's house. Not wanting to risk passing out from heat stroke the elderly pair decided to just take a taxi from the beach. They also decided to head into town from there, forgoing the trip to Sarah's house altogether after Chuck insisted that he had enough money to get ice cream for both of them and didn't mind paying.

Less than half-an-hour later Chuck and Sarah were dropped off in the middle of Main Street.

"This is it," Sarah said as she took Chuck's arm and led him toward the door of the shop on the corner.

Before going inside, Chuck glanced at the sign.

 _Luke's Malt Shoppe_

Once they stepped inside Chuck felt like he had stepped back in time more than one hundred years, back to the 1950s. The floors were made of tile and consisted of a black and white pattern. On the right side there was a bar with silver stools, topped with red, plastic seats. And covering every wall were old signs, many of which were related to the field of pharmacy. A plaque by the door told Chuck that long before he was born this building used to be an actual pharmacy and was the first soda fountain in town, which explained all the signs.

"Wow," Chuck said. "This place has been around for a long time hasn't it?"

"It has, and it has always been my favorite place to come for ice cream, even before Samantha was born. They also have sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers and things like that if you're hungry."

"Do you want something to eat?" Chuck asked as he pulled out a chair for Sarah.

"No, I'm having dinner with my family later," Sarah answered.

"Are you sure? I'll buy your food for you if you're hungry."

"I'm sure. You should get something to eat if you are hungry though."

"I think I just want some ice cream to fight this summer heat. Is it always this hot down here?"

"I guess the summers are generally hotter here than in Burbank. I've lived here so long that I've gotten used to it."

Picking up the menu from the center of the table Sarah handed it to Chuck and said, "I think the ice cream flavors are on the back."

Taking the menu Chuck skimmed over it for a few moments before concentrating his attention on their selection of ice cream. As he read through the list of flavors Chuck glanced up at Sarah and asked, "What about you?"

"I'm trying to remember all the different flavors they have. I haven't been here since last summer," Sarah answered.

"Do you need to see the menu?"

"No," Sarah said, shaking her head. "I wouldn't be able to read it."

"I could let you use my glasses again. I think I know what I want."

Before Sarah could say anything Chuck had already set the menu down in front of her and removed his glasses, placing them down on top of the menu. Seeing Chuck graciously give up his glasses without hesitation Sarah couldn't decline the sweet gesture. Picking up Chuck's glasses she slipped them on her face for the second time today and began reading over the list of ice cream flavors.

Not wanting to deprive Chuck of his eyesight for too long Sarah quickly made a choice and handed his glasses back over. "Thank you, Chuck. It was very sweet of you to offer me your glasses again. I'll make sure I have my own glasses the next time I need to read something."

"I don't mind at all Sarah. You're welcome to use my glasses anytime you need to."

Those words earned Chuck a warm smile and a glint in her eyes. In return Chuck flashed a smile that had long since faded away until recently, when it found reason to surface again. That special smile that had only ever been reserved for Sarah.

The moment was cut short however when a waitress who surprised both of them with her presence welcomed them to _Luke's Malt Shoppe_ and asked them what they would like.

Being a gentleman, Chuck allowed Sarah to make her order first. She requested a small cone of vanilla ice cream. When it was Chuck's turn he asked for the same and after the waitress left to go prepare their ice creams he and Sarah laughed as they tried to figure out if both of them ordering vanilla meant that they thought the same, or that they were just boring old people.

The two didn't have much time to discuss their ice cream selections. Service at the old 50s themed soda fountain was pretty fast. Less than two minutes after making their orders their waitress returned with two cones of vanilla ice cream.

The cold, sweet treat was exactly what Chuck and Sarah needed on the hot mid-July day. The ice cream had the desired effect of cooling them down, while also pleasing their taste buds. The choice of vanilla could be considered boring, but it was one that neither Chuck nor Sarah regretted.

As they were leaving Chuck thanked Sarah for introducing him to a wonderful spot for ice cream, commenting that he hadn't had a simple vanilla ice cream that good in forever. Sarah meanwhile graciously thanked Chuck for buying her ice cream and again asked if he was sure that he didn't mind paying for her.

"Not at all," Chuck assured her for the tenth time. "Besides I was the one who suggested we get ice cream in the first place. It was kind of like a date. It's only right that I pay."

"A date huh?" Sarah teased. "Doesn't a date usually involve dinner, followed by dessert? And not just dessert? Then again it has been several decades since the last time I was on a date. Maybe things have changed since then. And really even then most of those 'dates' were actually missions."

When the reference to a date in regards to their ice cream outing didn't seem to make Sarah uneasy or cause her to completely reject the notion and had in fact instead resulted in her teasing him about the definition of a date, Chuck decided to take a chance.

Taking a moment to formulate his thoughts and plan his words Chuck turned to Sarah, taking her hand as he did so. "Sarah, I would love to take you out on a 'real date', one that involves a candlelit dinner at a nice restaurant. What about this Friday? That would give me a few days to choose a restaurant and set up a reservation."

Silence filled the air as Sarah was stunned into speechlessness. She hadn't been asked out on any kind of date for at least forty years and she hadn't even considered the idea since she became Savannah. It had been so long that she had forgotten what it felt like to be asked out for a date, especially by someone that you cared about, all the emotions it stirred up inside.

The seconds ticked by while Sarah processed Chuck's request, until just as she had when Chuck first asked her out on a date at Orange Orange so long ago, she smile and softly said, "Okay."

"Okay, Friday it is then," Chuck said with a smile. "Don't worry. I won't be seeking recommendations for food items less than ten dollars this time," Chuck added referencing their 'Morgan-approved' date at the Chinese restaurant. "I promised you a romantic candlelit dinner and that is what I'm going give you."


	8. Chapter 8

The days passed far too slowly in Chuck's opinion ever since Sarah had accepted his request to take her out on a real date. But now it was finally Friday and Chuck was excited about this evening's date. Meanwhile for Sarah, ever since she had agreed to go on a date with Chuck when he asked her after they had ice cream on Tuesday the days had sped by far too quickly in her opinion. Her anxiety had grown with each day and now that it was Friday it was growing by the hour and her family had taken notice.

Samantha guided Sarah to the couch had made her sit down. She then asked, "Mom, what's wrong?"

"Chuck wants to take me out on a date and I said yes. I don't know why I said yes. I haven't been on a date in nearly sixty years."

Upon hearing that her mother had agreed to go out on a date with Chuck Samantha's face lit up. "Mom that's wonderful! I'm so happy for you!"

"I can't do this, but I can't back out now. It would break Chuck's heart and I know all too well what that feels like. I can't do that to him, but I don't know what to do on a date. I gave up on the idea of dating long before you ever came into my life. So why did I say yes?"

Samantha put her arm around her mother's shoulder and matter-of-factly said, "Because it was Chuck that asked and you still have feelings for him. Even if you can't admit it. I think the reason you gave up on the idea of dating or relationships was because no one else is Chuck."

"What I am going to do now?"

"You're going to go out on your date with Chuck and you're going to have a great time. When is your date?"

"It's tonight at eight. That's only a few hours from now. I don't think I'm ready for this yet."

Sabrina, who had been listening from the other side of the couch said, "I can help you get ready for your date Grandma."

Sarah turned her attention toward her granddaughter to thank her for offering to help her prepare for her date. If she was going to do this she was going to need all the help that she could get. It had just been far too long since her last date and she had never been very good with relationships to begin with.

By that evening Sarah wasn't any less nervous about the date itself but her granddaughter had helped her with how she should dress for her date. Sabrina had helped Sarah to look her very best for the special occasion. Her white hair was gently curled and left down because Chuck seemed to like it that way. Sabrina had done her makeup beautifully and picked out a long-sleeved black dress for her to wear. Even the necklace and diamond earrings she was wearing had been picked out by her granddaughter. The only thing Sarah chose herself was her perfume, a rarely worn favorite she hoped Chuck would like.

Soon it was 8 o'clock and Sarah was at the restaurant Chuck had chosen for their date looking for him. It only took a minute for her to spot him, or rather he spotted her. As his eyes met hers a bright smile lit up his whole face. The expression was unmistakable and told her just how happy he was about their date.

Sarah only wished that she had the same confidence about tonight that he did. No matter how she felt about him, she still wasn't sure she was doing the right thing by agreeing to going out on a date with him. She wasn't certain that it was a good idea to start something with someone who could break her heart so easily, even unintentionally. There was no one in the world that could break her heart like Chuck could. Long ago he had taken possession of a piece of her heart and he still held that piece of her heart today. If he broke her heart again either intentionally or unintentionally by dying, Sarah had no doubt that at her age she wouldn't survive it. So she was afraid.

As Chuck approached wearing a dark jacket and carrying a single, pink rose in his hand, Sarah tried to swallow her nerves. She didn't want Chuck to know that she was having doubts about tonight because she knew that would break _his_ heart and that just may be even worse than having her own broken.

When Chuck handed her the rose and took her arm Sarah flashed her best Agent Walker smile and hoped that Chuck wouldn't notice or remember her 'spy smile'. Her feelings were her own problem and she was determined to not let them affect tonight's dinner. Chuck had worked hard to make tonight special and she didn't want to ruin it for him.

While Chuck led her toward the table he had reserved for them, Sarah couldn't help but notice how great he looked in his suit jacket. She found her eyes locked on him, rather than wearing she was walking and the smile on her face became less Agent Walker and more genuine. At the same time she concluded that she was disappointed that he wasn't wearing a tie with his jacket. What she was unable to decide was if that was because she always used to adjust his tie before missions or because she had also used his tie to pull him in for a kiss before. That last thought surprised her. Even the mere idea of a kiss shocked Sarah. Liking dating, Sarah hadn't kissed or been kissed by anyone since the heart-shattering kiss at the train station in Prague. So where did that thought come from?

Taking their seats at their table draped with a lace tablecloth and a flickering candle Sarah put all thoughts of kisses out of her mind. Instead, she was going to focus on having a nice evening with Chuck. Hopefully by the end of the night she would either be able to cast away all doubts that this date was a bad idea or reach the conclusion that she would be better off if the relationship between herself and Chuck remained only as friends.

Once they were settled and while they were waiting on their server, Sarah looked through her purse and pulled something out. "Don't worry. I actually have my own glasses with me today," she said holding up the case for Chuck to see. "So I won't have to steal yours again."

"Well I wouldn't mind letting you have my glasses if you needed them, but I guess the good thing is that since you do have your glasses and won't need mine, it means that I'll be able to look at you all night. You look really beautiful tonight Sarah. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen you look more beautiful that you do right now."

"Chuck," Sarah said, dismissing his comment. "We used to know each other when we were in our twenties and I was dressed up all the time for missions. I know that isn't true and you're just saying that. I'm so much older than I used to be and I look a lot different than I did back then."

"No, Sarah. I mean it," Chuck said with complete sincerity. "You are an incredibly beautiful woman. I don't care if you are, what, 81 now? You look great tonight."

"Thank you," Sarah said, trying not to blush. "That was really sweet. You should really thank my granddaughter, Sabrina. She's the one that did all of this. She styled my hair and did my makeup. She even picked out my dress and jewelry for tonight."

"Well your granddaughter deserves credit for bringing out your beauty, but most of the credit still belongs to you."

Before Sarah could become further embarrassed by Chuck's compliments a young man stepped up to their table and presented them with menus as he welcomed them to the restaurant. After briefly introducing himself and describing the evening's specials he stepped away to give them some time to decide what they wanted to order.

Opening the little case next to her, Sarah removed her glasses and slipped them onto her face. Once she had the white frames comfortably settled she picked up the menu and began looking over it.

Sarah had only just started looking at the menu when Chuck remarked, "The lighting in here isn't really suited for old eyes is it?"

With a light laugh Sarah answered, "No it's not. Are you having difficulty reading the menu?"

"Yeah, a little," Chuck answered as he moved the menu closer to the small flickering candle sitting on the middle of the table and tried to angle it to find better light.

"What about you Sarah," Chuck asked as he leaned closer to the menu and tried squinting his eyes. "Are you having trouble seeing the menu?"

"It's a bit hard to see in here, but I think I have found sufficient light to read the print now though."

With a bit of work Chuck to was able to find a way to read the menu as well.

After giving them several minutes with the menu, during which a fair percentage of the time had been spent actually trying to see the words printed on it, their waiter returned to take their order. Quickly making their final decisions, Chuck and Sarah each ordered from the senior menu and requested a simple glass of water to drink.

As soon as the young man jotted down their orders Chuck and Sarah were alone once more. However, unlike before they no longer had the distraction of menus and deciding what they wanted to eat to occupy their attention. Now that they only had each other to focus on tonight had just officially become a date.

An awkward silence hung in the air for a few seconds during which neither Chuck nor Sarah knew what to say. Finally Chuck broke the silence when he said, "I didn't know it was going to be so dark in here. If I had maybe I would have chosen a different restaurant or maybe I would have just brought a flashlight with me."

Chuck's flashlight joke made Sarah smile. "No, this was a nice choice and the lighting is only a problem for reading. Otherwise it's beautiful in here."

"So Sarah," Chuck said changing the subject. "Where did you live before you moved in behind your daughter?"

"Well when I first moved out here I was living in a little apartment, but before I got Samantha I had moved to a house outside of town that had a big yard. I wanted my daughter to have a real home and a yard to play in as she grew up. The day I decided I wanted to try to adopt I started looking for the perfect place to raise a child. That house was perfect. It had everything I wanted. A big yard, a quiet neighborhood located near a playground and a school."

"I loved that house and I miss living there. That house had so many wonderful memories. But my daughter wanted me close so that she didn't have to worry about me living alone as I got older. I didn't really want to leave the house where I'd raised my daughter, but I saw how much it meant to her and moving would allow me to be closer to her. So we eventually worked out a compromise where I would move, but only if I could still have my own home."

"How long have you been living behind your daughter's house?"

"About three years now. Though I still miss my old house sometimes, I do admit that it has been nice living so close to my family and the beach. I love getting to see my daughter and granddaughter almost every day and being able to spend so much time with them. Having them right there also makes things a lot easier for everyone now that I no longer drive. And I do enjoy being able to walk down to the beach whenever I want, so the move has been a good thing for me."

"What happened to your old house? Where is it or the apartment you lived in when you first moved here?"

"Oh the apartment is long gone. That was fifty years ago. The building was torn down decades ago. As for the house where I spent more than half my life, someone else is living there now I guess. I never met with anyone interested in the house. Scott handled all of that for me."

The arrival of a basket containing freshly baked, hot rolls momentarily halted the conversation. Chuck and Sarah each took a roll, buttered it to their liking and took a taste.

After taking a bite Sarah set her roll down on the small plate provided for that purpose then looked across the table at Chuck. When he looked back at her she asked, "What about you Chuck? Where did you live before you came out here? Did you stay in Echo Park, or did you move somewhere else?"

"If you remember Ellie and Devon got married not long before everything happened…, before you left Burbank." Chuck amended, not wanting to put focus on Prague.

"Yes, I remember the wedding," Sarah replied.

"Now that they were married Ellie and Devon wanted their own place, so a few months later they moved into a different apartment in the courtyard. Once they moved out I had the old apartment to myself and I ended up living there until I left Burbank following Morgan's death. I never really felt the need to move. It was a nice apartment and had plenty of room for just one person. Plus, it was nice having my sister and Devon practically next door. And when Casey eventually moved out he gave his place to Morgan and Alex, so I was surrounded by family there. Ellie and Devon eventually moved out, but Alex and Morgan lived in Casey's old apartment until Alex died and Morgan moved into a retirement home."

"After Morgan moved were you all alone out there?"

"Yeah, I was. I didn't really know any of the people who lived in the other apartments."

"You must have been pretty lonely after Ellie and Morgan were gone. I remember the house feeling so empty after Samantha left for college. After eighteen years it was hard saying goodbye to her and not seeing her every day anymore. When did Morgan move into a retirement home?"

"Um," Chuck said, as he appeared to think about the answer. "It was around the time when Ellie got sick," he finally answered, his voice starting to break. "He hadn't been doing very well for quite some time and couldn't really take care of himself anymore. So when Alex died he had to move into a home. Without Alex and the nurses and caregivers at his retirement home I think Morgan would have died a lot soon than he did."

Tears now filled Chuck's eyes and Sarah stretched her hand out across the table to lay her hand over his. "I'm so sorry Chuck. That must have been a really tough time for you. I wish I could have been there for you."

"I would have liked having you in my life all these years, but I was okay. When you get to our age you have to expect to start losing people in your life," Chuck said with a sad smile. "If not to death, than to health or mental deterioration, something will take those you care about away from you. Being the last one around is difficult. There are times when I wish I hadn't outlived everyone in my life."

"Is that what it sounds like?" Sarah said as she wrapped her hand around Chuck's. "No wonder Samantha doesn't like to hear it."

When Chuck gave her a puzzled look she explained that she had brought up the subject of her death before and that her daughter was always quick to shut any such talk down. And that until she heard him talk about dying she didn't know how hard it was to hear someone you cared about talk like that.

"Don't ever feel bad about living or wish that you had died before someone else. Never give up on life Chuck. You're one of the best people I've ever known. The world isn't ready to lose Chuck Bartowski yet. And neither am I," Sarah added looking directly into his eyes.

"Don't worry Sarah," Chuck said, looking back into her eyes. "I'm not looking to die today. And I'm not alone anymore. I have you now. I'm not ready to lose you yet, not after I just found you. I have so many years to make up for."

While their hands were still stretched out across the table and linked, the waiter arrived to bring them their food. Slowly and somewhat reluctantly Chuck and Sarah released their hold on one another and moved back to their own side of the table.

Once their food was served Chuck and Sarah turned their attention to the plates in front of them. As they unwrapped their cloth napkins to reach their silverware the conversation between Chuck and Sarah fell away. Any comments they did make were about the food.

The near silence didn't last for very long however. Following the brief period during which Chuck and Sarah focused solely on starting their dinner the conversation between them slowly began to return.

Between bites of food Chuck and Sarah engaged in quiet, light conversation about their lives before Prague. Soon the pair were reliving old memories as they talked about their lives as spies. While talking about missions and cover identities neither of the elderly former spies could remember all the details of any particular mission or cover on their own, but each was able to recall something that the other wasn't. Putting their fading memories together they were able to have a lively conversation about their younger days.

They laughed as they discussed various amusing situations they found themselves in over the years, each playfully blaming the other for their predicaments, both during missions and in Chuck's civilian life. They smiled and even blushed as they reminisced about the times when their mission turned toward the romantic side or the moments where their cover lives blurred with the real life they tried not to show, like the time they posed as a married couple in the suburbs. When they talked about instances where their missions were achieved by unusual means, such as the time Chuck diffused a bomb with a computer virus back when they first met or the time he prevented a disastrous missile attack by beating an 'unbeatable' video game they expressed their disbelief that those things actually happened.

Not wanting to forget Sarah, Chuck made certain to mention some of the amazing things she had done, including saving his life on multiple occasions. He made special mention of the times she had singlehandedly prevented him from being tossed into a bunker in some undisclosed location never to be seen or heard from again, even committing treason to do so. Chuck made it clear that without her he wouldn't be here today and that he would have been locked away or dead a lifetime ago. And that even after she left she had kept him alive, that the short time they were together was crucial in helping prepare him for life as a spy.

As they continued to talk about their old lives working for the CIA, the topic turned to the skills, the Kung Fu, Chuck acquired with the version of the Intersect he downloaded just before Sarah got on a train to go find a new life. Chuck told Sarah about all the other unbelievable things the Intersect 2.0 allowed him to do. As Chuck described some of the amazing things he did, like speak various languages and execute an impromptu surgery to remove a bullet from a man's leg, as well as being able to perform a variety of fighting techniques in addition to the Kung Fu she had witnessed, Sarah's eyes grew wide.

Astonished, Sarah asked Chuck if he could still do any of those things since the Intersect was still in his head. Laughing, Chuck replied that even if he did have a flash on some skill he doubted that his old body would be able to follow through with it and that he would likely just wind up flailing around and injure himself instead. Sarah laughed with Chuck and in the midst of their mutual amusement their waiter returned and asked them about dessert.

"What do you think Sarah? Would you like some dessert?"

"Dessert sounds nice, but I don't think I would be able to eat it."

"We could split something," Chuck suggested.

"Okay," Sarah said smiling. "What do you think we should get?"

Several minutes later their waiter set a small plate holding a piece of rich, chocolate cake covered with fudge and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the center of the table between them.

"Wow that looks really good," Chuck said picking up his fork.

"It does," Sarah agreed, picking up her own fork. "I don't know how much of it I'll be able to eat though."

One small bite at a time Chuck and Sarah ate their shared dessert, agreeing that it was indeed as delicious as it looked. Despite the fact that both were feeling pretty full after their dinner, together they were able to eat the small piece of chocolatey cake in its entirety. The cake had just been too wonderful to leave any portion uneaten.

After finishing their dessert Chuck and Sarah were ready to leave the restaurant. The wooden chairs were beginning to grow uncomfortable for someone in their eighties. Plus the restaurant wasn't as quiet as it had been when they first arrived. During their meal all of the tables around them began to fill up, packing the restaurant to nearly full capacity. It was time to go home, or back to the hotel in Chuck's case, where things would be both quieter and more comfortable.

While Chuck looked over the check Sarah pulled her glasses out and put them back on so she could see. When Chuck laid the check back down on the table to pull out his wallet Sarah picked the slip up to read it. After reading the check Sarah returned to her purse and began to pull money out, but before she could get any money Chuck stopped her, saying that tonight was a date and he intended to pay for her. Sarah thanked Chuck but insisted that she would pay the tip as she pulled a few bills out of her purse and placed them on the table.

Just after ordering dessert Chuck had called for a car service to pick both Sarah and himself up and shortly after paying the check he got word that the car had arrived and was waiting outside the restaurant's doors. Upon learning that their ride had arrived both slowly moved to get up, while their bodies protested sitting on a hard surface for an extended period of time. Then taking her arm Chuck walked Sarah out of the restaurant, opening both the restaurant and car doors for her.

There wasn't enough privacy in the car for Chuck and Sarah to continue the conversation they had over dinner, so the ride to Sarah's home was quiet for the most part. The only real words spoken were regarding Chuck's decision to have the driver take Sarah home first, even though Chuck's hotel was located in town, while Sarah lived nearly twenty minutes outside of town. But despite the sound logic Sarah presented in favor of dropping Chuck off at his hotel first, he insisted on taking her home first.

When the car pulled up to the property Sarah shared with her daughter, Chuck got of the car to walk her to the door.

"Do you want me to walk you to your daughter's house or to yours?" Chuck asked as he again took her arm.

"To my daughter's house," Sarah answered. "It's closer and I need to let them know that I'm back home anyway."

As Chuck walked Sarah up to the front door of her daughter's home, the sounds of crickets and a few frogs filled the air. Lightning bugs flashed their glowing light, intermittently bringing a sparkle to the night. And a beautiful full moon hung from the heavens.

Reaching the porch Chuck stood in front of the door with Sarah, not ready to end the evening just yet. Taking her hands, Chuck told Sarah that tonight had been the best night of his life in a long time. Then, under the glow of the full moon, as the crickets and frogs sang, and tiny flickers of yellow-green light danced in the sky Chuck leaned in and softly pressed his lips against Sarah's, for a sweet goodnight kiss.

As Chuck walked back to the car Sarah was left frozen in stunned silence. She hadn't been kissed in fifty-four years, not since the train station in Prague. The kiss had only lasted for a brief flutter of a moment, but it was still a kiss.

Sarah's heart started racing, beating faster than an old heart like hers should. She felt weak and shaky and worried that her aged body would give away, sending her tumbling to the ground, likely breaking something. She suddenly felt flush and maybe dizzy, everything was swirling. Her breath escaped her. She was locked in a whirlwind of strange sensation.

While Sarah stood frozen on the porch Samantha opened the front door, brightly exclaiming, "Hey Mom. You're back! I thought I heard a car."

But when Sarah didn't take notice of her daughter, the chipper tone of her voice faded into confusion and concern. "Mom, why aren't you coming inside?"

When she got no response Samantha wrapped her arm around her mother's shoulder and walked her into the house, but Sarah didn't seem to register anything that was happening. Inside, Samantha led Sarah over to the couch and sat down next to her. Then Samantha laid her hand over her mother's and asked her what was bothering her.

Sarah only responded with one word, "Chuck."

The fear and concern in Samantha's voice grew when she asked, "What did Chuck do?"

"He… kissed me."

Relief flooded Samantha's voice and the bright, chipper tone returned. "Chuck kissed you?! I guess the date went well then."

"Yeah, I think it did. But I haven't been on a date in so long that I don't know if I can accurately judge the success of tonight."

"Well did you have a good time?" Samantha asked.

"Yes, it was very nice." Sarah answered, smiling as she recalled her night out with Chuck.

"I'm glad. I was worried about you when I found you just standing there on the porch. I didn't know what was wrong or if something bad had happened to you."

"I'm sorry baby," Sarah said, wrapping her arm around her daughter and pulling her to her until Samantha's head was resting on her shoulder. "I didn't expect Chuck to kiss me or realize what it would feel like when he did. You know I haven't been kissed since before you came into my life. That kiss was with Chuck too. The last day I ever saw him at that train station in Prague. I kissed him, but he didn't really kiss me back. It's not the happiest memory, but tonight as he was saying goodnight, he kissed me. When he did I felt so many things. I can't explain it."

"I can," Samantha said, a sly smile sweeping across her face. "You're in love."

* * *

 ** _A/N: Are you still enjoying this story and want to see it continue?_**


	9. Chapter 9

The morning following his date with Sarah, Chuck nearly sprang out of bed, feeling much younger than his eighty-two years. Last night couldn't possibly have gone any better. It was perfect from the moment he first laid eyes on her at the restaurant all the way up to the goodnight kiss he gave her as they were ending their evening.

That amazing feeling, the feeling of having gone on a date, a real date with the one and only Sarah Walker, even if she did go by a different name now, was one that he never wanted to lose. Last night's date made it clear in his mind what his heart already knew, Sarah was his one and only. No one he had ever been out on a date with in decades past made him feel the way he did when he was with Sarah. His heart belonged to her. It always had.

One date. One kiss. That wasn't enough for Chuck. So as soon as he went through his morning routine and got dressed, he picked up his phone to contact Sarah. He wanted the two of them to spend more time together. He didn't care what they did; he just wanted to be with her.

Just as he was about to hang up Chuck heard Sarah's voice on the other end of the phone. "Hey Sarah. I didn't think you were going to answer. I was about to give up."

"Sorry Chuck. I didn't have my hearing aids in yet. I was just working on putting them in when I heard the phone."

Chuck told Sarah that her delayed response was not a problem and apologized if he was calling at a bad time before moving on to the reason for his early morning call. They talked about Chuck's idea of seeing each other again today for a couple of minutes before they settled on meeting on Main Street in a few hours.

After meeting on Main Street later that morning Chuck and Sarah walked along the sidewalks together, peering through the windows of every shop, gallery or eatery that they passed and entering the ones that caught their eyes. When Chuck spotted a little shop filled with comics and collectible toys his eyes lit up. This was one shop that he just had to go into.

Inside the comics and collectibles shop Chuck felt like a little kid. He could spend hours here. Everywhere he looked he saw something that excited him. Sarah however never shared an interest in his 'nerd' pursuits, so he knew that she would likely be fairly bored. So they would just take a quick look around then move onto something that Sarah would like, or even better something they could both enjoy. Chuck would just have to make a point to return to the shop on his own sometime, so he could really enjoy all that the comic shop had to offer.

As they continued on the stroll down Main Street Chuck and Sarah came across more places they decided to check out. It was when they came across a toy shop that specialized in vintage toys that both Chuck and Sarah became equally excited. For Chuck, it brought out the nerd in him and for Sarah it was seeing so many toys that her own daughter had played with as a child that delighted her. Upon seeing one of Samantha's favorite childhood toys Sarah just knew that she had to get it for her.

It took Chuck and Sarah about two hours to walk up and down Main Street and check out the various shops. When they made it back to the end of the street where they started the two of them were ready to get back to their homes and hotels. But before parting ways Chuck made certain to give Sarah another kiss and this time she had more of a response.

Over the course of the next week Chuck arranged something for himself and Sarah to do together every day. He took her to a romantic movie. He took her out for a little dancing. They visited the local park and explored a jewelry store. Every day was something different and with each passing day Chuck and Sarah continued to grow closer.

On the eighth day, Chuck arranged for their most romantic date yet, a moonlit stroll on the beach. Under the peaceful light of the moon Chuck and Sarah had the beach completely to themselves, making them feel like they were the only two people in the world. Walking hand-in-hand across the sands neither Chuck nor Sarah felt any real need to disrupt the silence with words, choosing instead to enjoy the quiet, natural beauty around them.

Within two minutes Sarah's head gently came to rest on Chuck's shoulder as the gentle glow of the moon of the soft sounds of the ocean filled the air with a sense of enchantment. When Chuck felt Sarah's head against his shoulder he couldn't help but smile and his heart skipped a couple of beats. Drawing her just a little closer Chuck wordlessly thanked the magic of the beach.

When they had walked for as long as could without tiring Chuck and Sarah moved to a lifeguard tower and sat next to each other on one of the wooden steps. The stairs were narrow and forced Chuck and Sarah to sit very close, which just seemed to invite Sarah to once more lay her head on his shoulder.

Sitting on the stairs they remained silent, admiring the way the moon reflected off of the calm waters of the ocean. It was beautiful and romantic the way the moon gently rippled across the surface. Everything about the atmosphere of the beach was simply perfect.

Soon all of the beauty and romance around them drew Chuck and Sarah's attention away from the water and toward each other. For a moment they looked into each other's eyes. Then Chuck softly laid his hand against Sarah's cheek and she closed her eyes, as he slowly brought his face toward her lips. Moments before his lips met hers in a kiss Chuck closed his eyes and again his heart skipped a few beats.

Over the past week each of Chuck and Sarah's dates had ended with a kiss. But tonight's kiss on the beach under the light of the moon was different. It was slower, more intimate. With no audience or threat of interruption neither held back any feeling.

That first kiss was followed by a second, which reached the level of feeling and passion their kisses had held in their younger days. And when their lips parted the encore kiss Sarah again settled her head on Chuck's shoulder and he laid his head over hers. Together they both sat in continued silence smiling and basking in the moment.

Early the next morning Chuck arranged a ride to the home of Sarah's daughter to talk to her about something important. Feeling a little nervous Chuck hesitated momentarily before knocking on the door. As he waited for someone to answer the door he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Hey Chuck," Samantha said, answering the door with a smile. "I heard that you and my mom have been spending a lot of time together over the past several days."

"Yes, we have," Chuck agreed. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Okay. Do you want to come in?" Samantha asked, stepping aside to let him enter.

Appearing to think for a moment Chuck replied, "Yeah. Thanks."

Once Chuck and Samantha were settled on her living room sofa she invited him to tell her what was on his mind.

Gathering his nerves Chuck began to explain the reason for his visit. "Mrs. Collins."

"Samantha," she reminded him.

"Samantha, as you know your mother and I have been spending a lot of time together ever since we reconnected earlier this month, especially this past week. I've loved your mother for a very long time. But it wasn't until we found each other again that I realized just how much I loved her. What I mean is that I want to marry your mother," Chuck said, pulling a ring box from his pocket.

"And because you are her daughter I wanted to ask you if you would be okay with that. I also wanted to ask how you think your mother would respond if I asked her to marry me."

When Chuck opened the box to show Samantha the ring he saw the biggest smile spread across her face. He wasn't exactly sure why she was smiling so much. The ring wasn't that impressive. It was fairly simple in fact, but he took her response as a good sign.

"Of course you have my blessing. I've heard stories about you my whole life, even if I didn't know your name then. And ever since I've met you I've witnessed what my mother saw in you. You're a good man Chuck and I'd be happy to have you as a part of my mother's life."

"Do you think she would say yes if I asked? I wanted to ask her tonight, if you thought it was okay."

"That's hard to say. Mom never even considered a relationship of any kind with anyone. But then you came back into her life and I've seen how much she enjoys spending time with you. I know she has feelings for you and she hasn't said anything, but I think that she is in love with you. But I don't know how she would respond to the idea of marriage however. I would suggest that you wait a few days until the 28th to ask her though."

"Why?" Chuck asked.

"Because that's Mom's birthday. I think asking her on her birthday would be really special and it might improve your chances of getting a positive response."

"July 28th is Sarah's…, your mother's birthday?!" Chuck responded as his eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes, you didn't know her birthday?"

"No. When I knew your mother she was a spy and rarely shared any kind of personal details about herself. It was just part of the job, even if I didn't really like it."

"Well we're having a party here for Mom on her birthday. You should come. Just show up around eleven, but don't say anything to Mom. It's a surprise."

Chuck thanked Samantha for the invitation and her advice then said his goodbyes. He needed time to think about everything Sarah's daughter had told him and decide what he was going to do with that information.

When Chuck showed up at Samantha's house to discuss his ideas about marrying Sarah, he had intended to ask her that day, but Samantha told him to wait until her birthday which was just a few days away. Chuck was nervous enough when he decided that he wanted to ask Sarah to marry him and went to talk to her daughter for advice on the subject. But when that plan was changed Chuck only became more nervous. And with each passing day Chuck continued to grow more and more nervous about proposing to Sarah, so that by the time her birthday arrived Chuck had almost talked himself out of the idea altogether.

While waiting on the car he arranged to have pick him up and take him to Samantha's house Chuck debated as to whether or not he should take the ring with him. He still hadn't made a decision when the car arrived, so he just pocketed the ring and headed out the door. Maybe once he saw Sarah he would know what to do. In the meantime, the ring tucked away in his pocket would torment Chuck, not knowing if he would ever present it to the woman he loved.

At the party Chuck was able to relax a little and forget about the ring that weighed on his pocket, his mind and his heart. Instead, Chuck focused all of his attention on Sarah and her birthday. It was a small party, consisting of just himself and Sarah's family, but it was enough. The house had been decorated with a few balloons and a birthday banner. There was a home cooked meal made up of Sarah's favorite foods. Sabrina had baked a chocolate cake from scratch, on top of which she had written, 'Happy 82nd Birthday Savannah'.

When Chuck got the chance he asked her something that had been on his mind, other than the diamond ring he was carrying with him. "Sarah is today your _real_ birthday, or is it a made up date you created for Savannah."

"Today is my actual birthday. I never really got to use my real birthday or my real name, not even when I was a child, so when I finally got the chance I built my life using as many real details as possible. I still couldn't go by my real name, so I gave it to my daughter."

"Your real name is Samantha?!" Chuck responded, shocked to finally learn Sarah's name after all these years.

"Sam, yeah," Sarah answered.

"It's really sweet that you gave your daughter your real name. Does she know?"

"No, I led a dangerous life before Samantha became part of it and I wanted to keep her as far away from it as possible. But I still wanted her to have a name that meant something, so I gave her mine."

The conversation between Chuck and Sarah was cut short when the cake was brought out, alight with candles. "Sorry we couldn't fit all eighty-two candles on the cake Mom. Our oven isn't big enough to make a cake that size. Besides, we wouldn't want to burn the house down," Samantha joked.

"Just wait until your birthday," Sarah playfully threatened.

Laughing, Samantha leaned down to kiss her mother's cheek and said, "Happy Birthday Mom."

As soon as she stood back up she directed everyone to start singing. Chuck, unsure of what to say when it came time to name the birthday person, just quietly said 'Sarah' so that only he could hear. That's who she was to him and that is what he wanted to call her.

When the song ended, Sabrina said, "Make a wish Grandma."

Sarah closed her eyes and Chuck wondered what she was wishing for. He also made a wish of his own, wishing that her wish, whatever it was, would come true. He just wanted her to be happy.

After making her wish Sarah blew out all of the candles and the room erupted in applause. Samantha then announced that it was time for the birthday girl to open her presents. Chuck was the last one to give Sarah a present, handing her an envelope containing a card he had spent over an hour picking out, making sure that he found the perfect one.

Finally reaching his decision after Sarah read the card he had meticulously chose for her, Chuck moved closer to Sarah and said, "I have one more present for you."

As he moved his hand toward his jacket pocket he caught the look of approval on Samantha's face. Slowly, Chuck removed the small, red box from his pocket, but didn't reveal it. He didn't want Sarah to see the box just yet.

Chuck looked into Sarah's eyes and with the hand that wasn't concealing the ring box took hers. "Sarah, these past few weeks since we were reunited have been among the best weeks of my life. I've been happier having you in my life than I can remember being in such a long time. Even though we have only been back in each other's lives for less than a month and even less time than that since we moved our relationship from one of friendship toward that of a more romantic nature I don't want to wait any longer. At our age we can't afford to wait. We don't know how much time either of us has left. Whatever time we do have left, whether it be a just few months or many years, I want to spend it with you. We already lost fifty-four years. And I don't want to lose any more time without you as my wife."

Releasing Sarah's hand Chuck opened the box he had been concealing and revealed the small, sparking diamond inside. "Sarah, will you marry me?"

Sarah didn't say anything. She simply sat there silently staring at the ring Chuck was holding in his hands. And that made Chuck quite anxious.

When he couldn't take the silence anymore Chuck said, "You don't have to say anything right now. Just promise you'll think about it. Please."

"What?" Sarah said, finally speaking.

"Chuck just asked you to marry him, Mom," Samantha said.

"I know. But why would he want to marry me? I'm too old get married."

"No you aren't Mom. You would make a beautiful bride. If it's your age that worries you, don't let it dictate your life. You should do whatever feels right for your life. Your age doesn't matter."

A hush fell over the room for a little while, but then Sarah softly spoke, speaking words that she had never uttered before. "I love you, Chuck."

"I love you too Sarah. Does this mean that you'll marry me?"

Sarah was silent for a minute as she seemed to think about how to respond. After the long nerve-wracking silence she finally answered, saying, "Yes, I will," before leaning in to kiss the corner of Chuck's mouth.

Chuck was over the moon. Not only had Sarah agreed to marry him, but she had kissed him. The handful of times they had kissed before he had been the one to initiate the kiss. Now for the first time since they had rekindled their relationship she had been to one to initiate the contact between their lips. Not only that, but for the very first time in their lives he had heard the words 'I love you' from the woman he loved.

Chuck was so blissfully happy in that moment that he forgot all about giving Sarah the ring. All he could do was smile and think she loves me. She. Loves. Me. It wasn't until Sabrina asked about seeing the ring that Chuck realized he was still holding on to the small diamond ring.

"Oh, I guess I should give this to you now shouldn't I?" Chuck said, feeling slightly embarrassed.

Chuck pulled the ring from its resting spot, displayed in the small box and slipped it onto Sarah's finger.

"That's a really beautiful ring Grandma." Sabrina said admiring the ring on Sarah's hand. "One day I hope to be lucky enough to get a ring that beautiful."

"It really is very pretty. Thank you Chuck," Sarah said, looking at the simple ring that now sparkled on her finger. "It's not too fancy. I like that."

Today just couldn't get any better. Sarah had said yes to his proposal, it may have taken her some time to get there, but she did accept. She liked the small ring he had chosen, which was all he could really afford and her family approved of the idea of marriage and welcoming him into the family, officially.

After Sarah's birthday party Chuck walked with Sarah back to her home. Once they were alone and seated on her couch Chuck asked Sarah if she was sure of her decision. As much as he wanted marry Sarah and spend the rest of his life with her he wanted to make sure that was what she wanted too. He needed to know that she hadn't felt pressured by either her family or himself to say yes. Chuck knew that he was giving Sarah an opportunity to back out of their engagement, but if she had only said yes because she felt that she had to it would be wrong to marry her.

Sarah assured Chuck that she knew how she felt about him and that she wanted him in her life. Then for the second time Sarah leaned in and kissed him. This time however because they didn't have an audience the kiss was slow and intimate, just like the kisses they shared on their moonlit beach date. It was that kiss that convinced Chuck of Sarah's words.

Once it was settled that Chuck and Sarah were both certain about the idea of marriage they started discussing possible dates for the ceremony. After a lengthy discussion they decided on August 23, exactly halfway between their birthdays.


	10. Chapter 10

With the wedding only a few weeks away there was a lot of work to do in a short period of time. Chuck helped out with the planning and the making of arrangements where he could, but most of the work fell to Sarah and her family. Chuck expressed regret for not being able to do more to help, but Samantha assured him that his participation had been valuable and that she didn't mind taking on the vast majority of workload, that in fact she absolutely loved planning her mother's wedding.

There was one very important task that Chuck was able to take care of completely on his own however, picking out the wedding bands. Everyone had loved the elegant engagement ring he had gotten for Sarah, especially Sarah herself. He was confident, as was everyone else, that he could find the perfect wedding bands to symbolize the bond he and Sarah would soon share.

Meanwhile, a task which Chuck could have no part in was choosing Sarah's wedding dress. The dress had to be kept a secret from Chuck and remain unseen by the groom-to-be until he saw Sarah in it for the first time during the ceremony. Samantha insisted on keeping that tradition.

Sarah agreed to follow all of the important wedding traditions. She only had one stipulation regarding her wedding dress, she would not wear white. She was just too old for that. Her hair would be the same color as the dress. She would look ridiculous, so she wouldn't wear white, or any similar shade. Instead she would choose a dress with a little color.

It proved to be fairly difficult to find a dress that wasn't white or ivory, or any other similar shade. It was even harder to find a dress with some color to it that Sarah liked and felt comfortable wearing at her age. It took an exhaustive search that monopolized more of the far-too-little time they had to get everything done before the rapidly approaching wedding than should have been devoted to a single task, but at long last, Sarah, along with a little help from her daughter and granddaughter found the perfect dress. The long-sleeved lace dress in a soft peach shade was everything Sarah was looking for, and according to both Samantha and Sabrina, she looked radiant in it.

With the dress finally chosen the rest of the wedding plans went smoothly. It was going to be a simple ceremony on the beach with only Sarah's family in attendance. It was too far and too short notice for Chuck's niece, Clara to be in attendance. She had her own life and her own family in New York anyway. And neither Chuck nor Sarah had anyone else in their lives. Due to the extremely small ceremony, Sarah's son-in-law would act as Chuck's best man. Her daughter would be the maid of honor and Sabrina would be a bridesmaid. It was also Sabrina's suggestion to act somewhat as a flower girl too, despite being 'too old' for the job.

Twenty-six days wasn't very long at all and before anyone knew it the day of the wedding had arrived. Everyone awoke at sunrise to prepare for the ceremony. Scott was in charge of making sure that everything was set up and ready for the ceremony, while everyone else was busy getting themselves ready.

Chuck spent over twenty minutes meticulously cleaning his glasses. He wanted to look his best, as well as clearly see his bride when she walked toward him. Wanting to look his very best Chuck had his hair neatly trimmed and also purchased a new tuxedo. After carefully dressing in his brand new tux, taking great care not to wrinkle it, Chuck started working on his tie, redoing it several times until it was perfect. Finally, once everything else was taken care of Chuck reviewed his vows, committing them to memory.

Samantha and Sabrina spent most of their morning helping Sarah get ready for her big day. After Samantha helped her mother get into her wedding dress Sabrina worked on her hair and makeup. Sabrina kept her grandmother's makeup simple and classic. For her hair Sabrina took her grandmother's traditional braid and created a more intricate and elegant version of the style for her wedding.

Once Sabrina finished with her grandmother's hair and makeup Samantha made sure that Sarah had the traditional something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. For the new, Sarah had her difficult-to-find lace, peach wedding dress. For the blue Samantha and Sabrina placed tiny blue flowers throughout Sarah's braid, which beautifully complimented both her peach dress and her white hair. For the borrowed Samantha gave her mother, a diamond pendant necklace on a silver chain from her jewelry box, her favorite.

Sarah had the old covered and her something old was very, very old. Carefully tucked away and treasured Sarah opened a little wooden box lined with velvet and delicately removed the charm bracelet Chuck gave to her on their last Christmas together five-and-a-half decades ago. The bracelet, which had formerly belonged to his mother was a symbol of the real relationship between herself and Chuck that was hidden within the cover relationship they were forced to maintain and to this day, remained the most meaningful gift she had ever been given. For that reason the charm bracelet was the only possible choice for her something old.

As soon as Sarah's transformation into a bride was complete her daughter and granddaughter put her in front of a full length mirror so she could see just how beautiful she was. Looking at her reflection Sarah agreed that Samantha and Sabrina had done a wonderful job in getting her ready for her wedding and that she looked better than she thought she would. Though she had thought it impossible due to her advanced age, she actually looked like a real bride.

During the final stretch of time before the ceremony Sarah practiced her vows, trying to take her mind off the nervous energy she felt the closer it got 11 o'clock. She knew how she felt about Chuck. She wasn't questioning that. She wasn't sure she was even questioning the idea of getting married because she loved the thought of being with Chuck every day. Still the nervous energy bubbled around inside her.

Sarah didn't want anyone to know that she was feeling anxious, but she wasn't able to hide her nerves, not from someone who knew her as well as her daughter did.

"Hey Mom, is everything okay?" Samantha asked, kneeling beside her in her powder blue dress.

Knowing that it was pointless to try to hide anything from her daughter Sarah admitted to feeling a bit nervous.

Samantha laid her hand over her mother's and smiled. "That's completely normal. I felt the same way on my wedding day. Remember? I was so nervous that I started crying. You sat me down, dried my eyes and took me into your arms. The first thing you told me was that I would always be your baby girl and then you told me that it was perfectly normal to feel nervous because my wedding was such a big day. After all that you touched up my makeup and made me tell you the story of how I fell in love with Scott, even though you had already heard it a hundred times. So now I'm going to do the same thing for you."

"I love you Mom and I'll always be your baby girl. Getting married won't change that. Nothing will. Now tell me the story of how you fell in love with Chuck."

Sarah smiled at her daughter and the reversal of their roles on their respective wedding days. Then began telling her story, one she had told her daughter so many times. "It was long before you were born, when your mother was a young woman in her twenties. I was a spy and one day I was sent on a mission to discover what a simple, computer nerd from an electronics store knew about certain government secrets."

For a moment Sarah paused as she recalled that first day she walked into the Buy More. Even after all of these decades she could still clearly remember that day and what it was like to meet Chuck. When she resumed her story her smile had grown brighter and her eyes sparkles with happiness.

"Stepping through the doors of the Buy More where Chuck worked I felt confident that I could get some 'lowly computer geek, who hadn't been on a date in years' to tell me everything he knew. What I didn't count on was Chuck. I went there with the guise of having a broken phone that needed to be fixed. While I was there this man came in with his little girl dressed in a pink tutu. He had made a mistake in recording his daughter's recital. Chuck could have just told the man there was nothing he could do, but instead he went out of his way to recreate the recital right there in the store and recorded it. He even talked to the little girl when she seemed hesitant to do her routine. I'm not sure what he said to her, but whatever it was made her face light up and she confidentially performed her routine."

"It was then that Chuck first put a crack in my walls and I started to fall for him."

"After learning what Chuck knew regarding those government secrets my mission was extended and changed somewhat. He would work with me under the cover of a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. Because of that we worked closely together and I continued to fall for him. A few months after working together I thought I was going to lose Chuck due to circumstances that I can't tell you about, but I was willing to do almost anything to prevent that from happening. Chuck had started to make me think about the idea of a real life and a family. I was breaking the number one rule of spies. We aren't supposed to have feelings or fall in love."

"My partner and I managed to keep Chuck around and we only continued to grow closer, even going so far as to actually have a real date. A little more than a year later circumstances beyond our control resulted in the termination of my mission with Chuck and this time I really was going to lose him. In order to prevent that from happening I was willing to commit treason. I can't tell you what I did or how we managed to avoid being charged. But those events led me to the realization that though I loved being a spy and it was the only life I had known, I wanted something different now. Something real. That's when Chuck and I made plans to run, and… well you know how that turned out."

"Even though he broke my heart I never forgot about Chuck and then suddenly he walked back into my life. Ever since that day he has been reminding me of why I fell in love with him in the first place. Chuck is just so sweet and charming and still the kindest man I've ever known."

By the time Sarah finished her story she was flooded with emotion. Her nervous energy wasn't gone, but now she saw it in a different light. Her nerves weren't about doubt or negativity, but rather anxious anticipation. It may have taken her a lot longer to get here than she ever thought it would, but now she was getting ready to marry the man she had fallen in love with so, very, very long ago. She was going to get her real life with Chuck after all.

Soon the clock reached the eleventh hour and it was time for the ceremony. The weather could not have been more perfect for a wedding. It was a beautiful sunny day and because it was still early in the day, it wasn't overly hot. The sky was a brilliant blue, not a cloud in sight. The winds were calm and ocean surf peaceful.

The ceremony itself was going to be beautiful too. Wrought iron flower pots stands bursting with pink and white flowers were placed in two rows across the sand to create an aisle. At the end of the aisle was a wrought iron gazebo arch that was adorned with the same pink and white flowers as the flowers stands as well as a sheer, white cloth that gently fluttered with the ocean breeze.

As the ceremony began soft piano music started to play and Chuck started slowly walking between the rows of flowers toward the gazebo arch where the minister who would perform the simple ceremony was waiting. Once Chuck had taken his place, maid of honor and best man, Samantha and Scott stepped out and walked down the aisle arm-in-arm. Sabrina, who was both bridesmaid and flower girl was next. As she made her way down the aisle she sprinkled lots of beautiful, soft pink petals in the path.

When the music changed, Sarah who had been waiting out of sight until it was her turn to make her way down the aisle took a deep breath before stepping out in full view of the rest of the wedding party. Her eyes were immediately drawn to her groom. Standing across the beach in his wedding tux Chuck looked more handsome than she had even seen him before, even more so than during their days as spies.

As Sarah slowly walked across the petals toward Chuck she couldn't take her eyes off him. Catching sight of the way he was looking at her, like she was the only person in the world made her breath hitch in her throat and her heart flutter. The intense look of love in his eyes almost made her want to look away, but she didn't dare and she figured that she was likely giving Chuck the same look that he was giving her.

It seemed like it took forever to reach the gazebo and Chuck's side and for a moment Sarah feared that her heart would give out and cause her to collapse before she ever made it down the aisle. Even now as Chuck took her hand Sarah worried that she still might collapse because her heart was just bursting with so much emotion.

Sarah's heart was beating so fast that she barely registered the minister's words until he told Chuck to recite his vows to her.

"Sarah, almost fifty-seven years ago you walked into my life and changed it forever. I had never seen such a beautiful woman before. I still haven't. I was immediately drawn to you, but wasn't that the reason I fell in love with you. As we started getting to know each other I learned just how incredibly amazing you were. I've never known anyone like you Sarah. You're unforgettable. Not even decades apart or fading memories could erase you. My memories of you are just as strong as they ever were. I wish I could tell you just how much you mean to me, how much I love you, but I can't. I've tried, but there just are no words that can describe my feelings for you. Instead, I will show you my love every day of our lives together."

Sarah's eyes flooded with tears and it took every ounce of her willpower to not just grab his face and kiss him right now. Chuck words had reached all the way into her soul and heart swelled with love. And now she didn't know if she would be able to speak when it was time to recite her vows to him.

"Chuck, you are the most wonderful man I've ever known. Before I met you I couldn't even imagine what a real life looked like. It wasn't something I'd ever had. My whole life had been an illusion. But you welcomed me into your world and showed me what a real life was. Until you came into my life I never dreamed that it was something I could want or have."

Overcome with emotion Sarah had to pause for a few moments to regather herself and find her voice again. Closing her eyes she felt a tear fall against her face and trickle down her cheek. Taking a deep breath Sarah opened her eyes to finish her vows before that one tear became a hundred.

"I owe my life to you. It was because of you that my life my turned from illusion to reality. You gave me a real life. It's because of you that I have my family. My daughter, my granddaughter, my son-in-law. I could never repay you for the wonderful gift you gave me in them, but I will spend every day trying."

The vows between the bride and groom now given the minster resumed speaking. "Do you, Charles Irving Bartowski, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do," Chuck answered, his voice coated with heavy emotion as he simultaneously slipped the ring onto her finger.

Turning to Sarah the minister said, "Do you, Savannah Grace Smoak, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

Whilst a tear fell from her eyes and followed the trail created by the first, Sarah took Chuck's ring and slipped it onto his finger as she replied, "I do," answering for both the Sarah and Savannah parts of her persona that molded her into a whole person.

Saying those two little words caused Sarah's heart to beat so loudly that she barely heard the minister announce Chuck and herself as husband and wife. It wasn't until Chuck laid his hand against the base of her neck and ever so gently pulled her into a kiss that she truly registered his words.

In that same moment Sarah realized that she and Chuck were sharing their very first kiss as husband and wife. Wanting that moment to last Sarah wrapped her arms around Chuck's neck and deepened the kiss. It had taken decades and nearly a lifetime apart, but now, finally, she and Chuck were married. And she couldn't wait to start spending the rest of her life with her husband.

* * *

 _ **A/N: We're nearing the end of this little story. I hope you have enjoyed it so far.**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N: Twenty-six has been an important number in this story. It was 26 days from the time Chuck and Sarah reunited until Sarah's birthday where Chuck proposed to her. There were 26 days after that before the wedding, which was 26 days before Chuck's birthday. So today, on the 26th of this month I give you the final chapter of this story. Enjoy!**_

* * *

Life became very different for Chuck and Sarah once they were married. The most immediate change took place as soon as all of the wedding celebrations were over. That very day Chuck packed all of his things and checked out of the hotel where he had been staying, as he prepared to move in with his new bride. That day Sarah's home became his home as well.

Sharing a home was a big change for the newly married pair that brought a welcome benefit. From that day on neither of them ever had to be lonely again. While it was true that Sarah had a family and that they shared the same piece of land, she lived alone. Sometimes the quiet, empty house just felt so isolating, but it would never have to feel that way again. Chuck meanwhile had experienced the loss of his entire circle of loved ones, leaving him all alone and filling him with an overwhelming sense of loneliness. Today however Sarah gave Chuck a new family, just has he had given her what she had been missing in her life.

Forgoing a traditional honeymoon, because it just seemed silly at their age, Chuck and Sarah instead spent their first evening as husband and wife in the home they now shared. They didn't need a far off, exotic destination to enjoy their new life together. The simple, quiet companionship of one another was all they needed to be happy.

Chuck and Sarah both knew that enjoying a quiet conversation wasn't how most newlyweds would spend their first hours as a couple, but most newlyweds were much younger than they were. If they were younger and hadn't spent most of their lives uninterested in pursuing relationships they would probably be much like those younger couples. But at this point in their lives they had other ideas as to what constituted a nice evening. Their relationship wouldn't be a typical one, but then it never was. It would however be just right for them.

Sitting together on the couch, Sarah rested her head on Chuck's shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her, holding her close. Cuddled up together Chuck and Sarah talked about their wedding and little reception Sarah's family threw for them to celebrate their union. All-in-all it had been a wonderful day. Sarah's family had worked hard to give them a special day they would always remember.

As they talked about what a big day they had Chuck and Sarah each came to realize just how tired they were, though neither wanted to say anything. Eventually however their bodies spoke for them and they could no longer hide just how exhausted they were. They had put it off for as long as they could, but now it was time to go to bed.

Slowly Chuck and Sarah got up from the couch and went their separate ways. While Chuck looked through his suitcases, having not yet unpacked after leaving the hotel, Sarah headed toward her bedroom. Each privately changed into their sleep clothes before Sarah rejoined Chuck in the living room.

Upon returning to the living area Sarah stood on the other side of the room silently looking over at Chuck, while he looked back at her. For a while neither knew what to do or say. They were in completely new territory.

Finally breaking the awkward silence Sarah quietly asked, "Are you ready for bed?"

Using the same quiet tone, while glancing around the room, Chuck replied, "Yeah, I guess so."

"Okay," Sarah said, holding out her arm for Chuck to take. As soon as he took hold of her arm she continued. "I guess I should show you where the bedroom is then since it is going to be yours now too."

The silence returned as Sarah led the way to the bedroom where they would be sleeping. They walked slowly and paused just outside the door, neither quite ready to take that last step. The moment they stepped through the doorway the room would cease being Sarah's bedroom and would from now on be their bedroom.

As she took a breath Sarah reached up to turn the knob, opening the door and revealing the formerly private room to her new husband. In the very near future a new nightstand and dresser would need to be added to the room so that Chuck would have somewhere to put his things and to make the room feel more like his. Tonight and in the meantime however, the centerpiece of the room, the full size bed was ready to become theirs.

"Well this is the bedroom and here is the bed. Which side do you want to take Chuck?"

"I don't know. This has always been your bed. You should pick whichever side you want."

"It doesn't really matter to me. I just want you to be comfortable."

"I want you to be comfortable too. Um, your nightstand is over on the left side of the bed. It looks like you've already made that side yours. Do you want to take that side and I'll take the right?"

"Okay. Chuck… do you want me to keep your glasses over on my nightstand until you have your own?

"Yes, that would be nice. Thank you," Chuck answered, giving Sarah a small smile.

"One more thing Chuck. When I take out my hearing aids I won't be able to hear you anymore. I've mentioned my hearing loss before, but I want you to understand just how poor my hearing really is, so that you won't think I'm ignoring you or anything."

"Well don't remove your hearing aids just yet. There is something I want to say to you first and I want you to hear it."

Taking a step closer Chuck brushed Sarah's newly unbraided hair out of her face and leaned in to kiss her. When the kiss broke Chuck looked into Sarah's eyes, still resting his hand on her cheek and said, "I love you Sarah. We've only been married for a few hours, but I'm already happier being your husband than I've ever been in my life."

"I love you too Chuck and even though I never really thought about being a wife before, these few hours since we were married have been wonderful. Between my family and now you, I know that I don't need anything else in my life. I have everything I could ever want."

After sharing another small kiss the newlyweds settled down onto their respective decided upon sides of the bed. Chuck slid his glasses off his face and handed them over to Sarah so that she could lay them over on the nightstand as they had agreed. Holding the glasses in her hands, rather than setting them down on the nightstand Sarah gazed at Chuck.

"What?" Chuck asked after Sarah had been gazing at him for a couple of seconds.

"I can't decide if I like you better with your glasses or without them. I love you in your glasses. You look great in them, very handsome. But without your glasses I can really see your beautiful eyes. The eyes of the man I fell for when we first met. You're very handsome either way."

When Sarah finally set Chuck's glasses on the nightstand he removed his hearing aids and asked her if she could put them with his glasses. Sarah took the small devices and laid them next to his glasses before removing her own and placing them inside the box she kept in the drawer of her nightstand for just that purpose.

Before tuning out the lamp and resting her head on the pillow Sarah reminded Chuck that she was basically deaf at this point. In response, Chuck brushed his hand across her cheek and leaned into to kiss her once more. She may not have been able to hear, but that didn't mean that she and Chuck weren't able to communicate in other ways. At night, in their bed, actions would speak for them when words couldn't.

Though they had slept alone their entire lives the elderly newlyweds easily fell into sharing a bed. Soon after laying down on their respective sides of the bed, Chuck and Sarah slowly began to drift toward the center. By the time they fell asleep they were cuddled together and Sarah had her feet against Chuck's for the warmth she found there. That night Chuck and Sarah both got the best night's sleep that either had experienced in a very long time.

When Chuck and Sarah awoke the next morning they were still nestled together in the middle of the bed. Remembering that they were married yesterday Chuck and Sarah greeted each other with a smile and a small kiss. Content to stay just as they were neither of the pair moved to get out of bed, choosing instead to quietly lie in each other's arms.

After stealing a few extra moments for their 'wedding night' Chuck and Sarah slowly separated and got up from the bed to start their first full day as husband and wife. Starting today they would begin to knit their formerly separate lives together. Chuck and Sarah each had their own routines and ways of life and now that they were joined as a couple they needed to find a way to blend them together that would be complementary to both.

It soon became clear however that figuring out this married life thing was going to be a bit tricky. Once they were out of bed an awkward silence filled the air as Chuck and Sarah stood on opposite sides feeling lost as to what came next.

When the awkwardness became too thick Chuck attempted to cut it with his voice. However, because Sarah's hearing aids were still resting in their box she was only able to see the movement of his mouth, not hear his words. Whatever was said or asked floated around the room until the words were lost remaining undelivered.

With no idea what Chuck had just tried to say, Sarah added her own voice to the ever growing awkwardness. "Um, I think I'm going to go take a shower. Okay Chuck?"

Chuck tried to respond, but Sarah was still unable to hear him, which he came to realize and instead silently nodded his understanding.

Without another word Sarah disappeared into the bathroom, only to reappear after starting the shower. Standing in the doorway Sarah said something to Chuck and motioned something at the same time. But with Chuck's fuzzy vision he couldn't make out what she was indicating and due to his slightly impaired hearing he couldn't quite hear what she said over the sounds of the running shower either. Though because she couldn't hear the shower or even her own voice for that matter, it didn't occur to her that Chuck wouldn't understand her.

Between Sarah's hearing difficulties and Chuck's poor vision and less than perfect hearing the morning had been quite the disaster. It was going to take some work to figure out how they could navigate their mornings together before they were wearing their hearing aids and glasses.

After her shower Sarah peeked into the bedroom, and upon seeing it empty, she stepped into the room. Sarah noted that Chuck's glasses were still sitting on her bedside table, leaving him with fuzzy vision and called him out to him to let him know that the shower was free. Once the door to the bathroom closed Sarah relaxed and began to get dressed.

Sarah dressed and put in her hearing aids, then left the room to start breakfast. Food was quickly forgotten however when Chuck, freshly showered and now wearing his glasses entered the living room wearing only a towel. When Chuck and Sarah's eyes met they both blushed and turned away.

"Sorry Chuck, I forgot that all of your clothes were still out here."

"It's okay. I do need somewhere else to put my stuff though, so that I can get my suitcases out of your living room."

"It's your living room too Chuck," Sarah said, turning back around after Chuck signaled that he was dressed.

Taking a seat next to Chuck on a couch Sarah continued. "We're married now. This isn't my house anymore. It's ours now."

Over the next few days a new dresser and nightstand were added to the bedroom. Chuck's suitcases were unpacked and he slowly came to see the house as his own. With each passing day the anxieties Chuck and Sarah felt about the other seeing them in their most intimate and private moments faded and they grew more comfortable about fully sharing their lives together as husband and wife.

As Chuck and Sarah reached the end of their first week as a married couple they had built a wonderful life together and it continued to be so. When Chuck's 83rd birthday came along a few weeks later Sarah and her family surprised him with a trip to Disney World, Sarah recalling the comment Chuck had made about having always wanting to go. In the short time since she and Chuck were reunited Sarah had learned, mostly thanks to her daughter, that you were never too old to live your life and have new experiences and now she wanted Chuck to learn that lesson too, while giving him the best possible birthday.

Weeks transitioned into months and months transitioned into years as Chuck and Sarah made the most of their lives together, never letting their ages hold them back. Like Chuck had once said they had a lot of time to make up for and they intended to do just that.

In the years that passed Sarah became a great-grandmother as Sabrina married and started a family, giving birth first to a son and then a daughter. Despite their now quite advanced ages they were very doting great-grandparents lavishing the newest little additions with hugs and kisses.

According to Samantha it was their stubbornness and refusal to be robbed of a real life as husband and wife that allowed both Chuck and Sarah to reach their hundredth birthdays, still enjoying relatively good health. Chuck did have to wear more sensitive hearing aids and the prescription for his glasses grew stronger. Sarah's eyesight weakened and she started wearing glasses full time, rather than just for reading, though she did stick with the white frames Chuck loved so much on her. Both added a regimen of daily medication to their lives and they each moved slower, now using canes for stability and balance. But they still lived fairly independently and retained their mental sharpness. Meanwhile, their spirts never dampened nor did their zest for life.

As for the love they felt for each other, it only continued to grow stronger with each day, week, month, year. Chuck and Sarah always made sure that the other knew how much they were loved. Not a day ever went by that they didn't demonstrate that affection with both actions and words. The night that Chuck and Sarah celebrated turning 100, which Chuck refused to even acknowledge until and unless Sarah reached that milestone birthday as well, that continued to hold true.

Slowly climbing into bed and before removing their glasses and hearing aids to settle in for the night Chuck and Sarah expressed their love for each other.

Chuck brushed his hand across Sarah's face and with his voice full of emotion gazed lovingly into her eyes and said, "I'll love you for eternity."

Her own eyes welling with emotion Sarah gently took Chuck's hand from her cheek and kissed his knuckles before replying, "And I'll love you back even longer than that."

* * *

 _ **A/N: With that this little story comes to an end. I hope you enjoyed this little epilogue and the story as a whole.**_


End file.
